


A Cloak In Time's Trials

by ElectricBlaster



Category: A Hat in Time (Video Game)
Genre: Action, Adventure, Angst, Arguements, Blood, Breaking and Entering, Danger, Drama, Fantasy, Fantasy Violence, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Mischief, Multi, Mystery, Nicknames, Other, Sickly Charactar, Trust Issues, si-fi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-05
Updated: 2021-02-20
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:21:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 39,587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22126276
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElectricBlaster/pseuds/ElectricBlaster
Summary: "For every age, there is a time of trial."A cloak-wearing child has spent the past few months recovering from a sickness, while drifting in space with a hat-wearing shipmate, and self-proclaimed captain. After their ship loses all their Time Pieces, Cloak Kid will have to learn to place his trust in others, including Hat Kid, if they want to save time itself from ruin...
Comments: 1
Kudos: 25





	1. When Time Falls

**Author's Note:**

> **Hello, and welcome to my newest project. This will be the first time I’m uploading a full project completely in third person. I’m still not sure if first or third is better, but I thought third would be best for this one. So, here we go.**

_“For every age there is a time of trial.”_

A small figure sat at a desk in the darkness, with a pair of small, childlike hands were shining a flashlight over old leather book with one hand and holding down the book with the other. The pages were worn, but the ink writing still showed as the light shined down.

_“In all my life I have dedicated myself to keeping the things most important things in existence safe. My grandson, my home, and everyone who lives there. As well, the very thing that controls… that is time itself. Even as peaceful as things are, that can change in an instant. And out all things I fear, that is the thing I fear the most. For nothing can escape the trials made by time itself. But, time is also something to rejoice over, to feel sorrow over, to-”_

The figure gasped a little upon hearing the door swing open. Quickly, the small figure shut the book immediately, hiding under a bunch of papers.

“Are you still awake? I told you to go to bed!”

“I-I was just reading, Hattie. I-It’s a... new book, and-”

“Bed. Now.”

“Fine.”

In the vastness of space, flew a peculiar looking ship. It was big, made of wood, and framed with gold. The rooms were quiet, still and dark, and the bedroom of one, a bed was covering a small figure’s sleeping form.

_“Good morning!”_

“Wah!”

A little girl, startled by the sudden speakers and the lights flickering on fell out of her blue color canopy bed and onto the floor. She was wearing a blue tunic with some white leggings.

“And welcome to yet another day of space adventure!”

The girl groaned. She thought she was never going to get used to the announcements every morning, but her dang space mate thought it was best to keep to a schedule, at least at dawn. She stood up, noticed how messy her brown hair was from sleeping, and that her blue top hat with a yellow band had landed on her head, from the nightstand.

_“You are only five lightyears away from your destination: home. The fuel tank is full and the ship is flying at full speed.”_

The child, who people throughout her life have come to call “Hat Kid” let out a yawn and slowly walked towards her table to adjust her hair.

_“Today’s to-do list contains: Waking up, adjusting the engine, eating a nutritious meal…”_

Hat Kid let the announcements continue as she brushed her brown hair and tied it back into her usual ponytail. Two locks of hair hung down on the sides of her head in front of her ears. She pulled her cape out from the wardrobe and put it on, liking the sound the clip snapping into place. Finally, after putting on her boots she placed her signature top hat over her head.

The girl wandered out of her room going down down her purple walled and sparkled floored hallway and went into the main room. The walls were made of wood and framed with gold. A giant meteor proof glass displayed a beautiful view of the vast open space. Despite the numerous doors, one leading to the kitchen, engine room, and other places, there was a large open space for a pink and white striped carpet, a TV for video games and a little Rumbi Hat Kid found that was keeping the floors clean.

Hat Kid had almost forgotten what to do today. She ran into the kitchen and took a pot of soup she made last night out of the fridge. The floors were checkered white and black. The dishes were in the sink, stacked neatly, but still messy. Some cooking tools were still left out. Soup cans were sitting in the corner of the counter unused. The toaster still had toast that she forgot to eat last night, a sausage chain was stuck in the back, and she still wasn’t sure what to do with it. The counter was still too high for her height so, she had to get a crate or a barrel, before moving the pot onto the stove. A tiny note was on it.

_Please try not to start a fire again. -CK_

Hat Kid grumbled, tossing the note aside and made sure the stove was on a low flame. Not sure if she should make more tonight, the little girl grabbed one of the soup cans and read the back, briefly.

Nutrition facts:

_Um, I wouldn’t eat this if I were you._

Hat Kid sighed and tossed it aside. “Wrong one.” She shrugged, thinking to just buy some soup that wasn’t some joke cans at another stop. She climbed down the chair and ran out of the kitchen, heading towards another bedroom.

The doors slid open and Hat Kid was met with the sight of that usually messy bedroom. The walls were painted dark blue with star patterns. The roof had the same result. The lights weren’t on, so the stars were glowing. There were a bunch of book shelves holding many books and little trinkets from planets they’ve visited. Books were also spilled on the floor and papers were scattered. The carpet had was circular, but designed like a moon. A telescope faced a giant window sitting in the middle of the two giant book shelves that were against the walls. Hat Kid walked over to a bed like hers, except it was red. Brown tufts of hair was sticking up from under the covers.

Hat Kid pulled the covers away slightly, revealing a boy around her age, sleeping peacefully. He wore a red tunic, with darker red leggings. His hair was short, but long enough for Hat Kid to mess with it. She turned to the nightstand, quickly glancing over the many medicine bottles near the lamp before turning it on.

“Hey, time to wake up, Cloaky!” Her playfulness brought out a soft moan from the boy. He waved her away and sat up slowly, opening his lime green eyes.

“Please don’t call me that…” the boy mumbled, straightening out his hair. He tried to rub the sleep out of his eyes. “Just because I call you ‘Hattie’ sometimes, doesn’t mean it sounds good the other way around.”

“Grumble, grumble…” Hat Kid mocked, walking back up to him. “Guess you’re feeling good today.”

“Yeah,” the boy said. People on their travels had referred to him as “Cloak Kid,” for the cloak he always wore no matter where he went, or how hot or cold it was. “Is the ship running-” He flinched when at Hat Kid put a hand on his forehead.

“Bit of a fever today, though,” she said. “Well, whatever. I bet it’ll go down after you eat breakfast and take your medicine. Until then, you stay in bed.”

“What?! But, there was this really cool moon near our target destination! I wanted to see it!”

“Sorry, but I’m the doctor!” Hat Kid proclaimed, putting her little hands on her hips. “And the doctor says you need to stay in bed!”

Cloak Kid crossed his arms, his mouth forming a pout.

“Now stay here, and I’ll go get some soup,” said Hat Kid. “Be right back.”

“Fine…” the boy grumbled.

Hat Kid ran back into the spacious lobby and climbed the ladder into the kitchen. She had done this enough that she could get soup into a bowl without spilling now, finally figuring out the use of trays.

Cloak Kid, clearly bored, was staring up at the ceiling, tracing constellations by pointing upward with his finger, when Hat Kid came back. He sat up slowly, letting Hat Kid set his breakfast in front of him.

“There you go!” she said. “And don’t forget!” She said a tiny plastic cup on the tray with with blue liquid in it. The boy rolled his eyes, crossing his arms with a huff.

“Fine!” he pouted.

“Good!” said Hat Kid. “I’m gonna check our course.” She began to skip towards the door. “I’m gonna come back and check on you and you better have taken it! No tricks! Do you hear me?!”

“Yes!” Cloak Kid yelled, grabbing his spoon. “Geez…”

Hat Kid huffed and kept walking. She made her way back to the main lobby almost stomping.

“Ungrateful…” she grumbled, as she walked up the steps to get to get to a giant screen in the back. “Boop!” she said tapping it with her finger. There was an image of an hourglass which read that it was full. The course was still set and they appeared to almost be there. Hat Kid smiled, but after thinking about it for a while, she started to frown, knowing that their time wandering in space was going to be over, once they got to their destination. Well, if they get there and it was actually the right place.

“Whoa!” Hat Kid yelped upon hearing a huge slamming noise. It sounded like someone pounding on the glass. She jumped into the air a little before turning around, seeing someone pounding the glass panel outside. “Huh?”

The girl walked up to the window, which was at the front of the ship, of course, near the steering wheel. There appeared to be a man just outside, knocking. He looked pretty tall, but also hunched over and he was bald. Thick eyebrows were over his eyes and he wore a blue suit with a red tie. An apron was tied around him that said, “Kiss the cook” in red letters. His arms were big and burly.

“What is this, flying boat?” he said.

“Uh…” Hat Kid tried to say.

“All boats need to pay toll in Mafia Town… even in space!”

“Hattie?” a slightly tired voice said. “Who’s there?”

Hat Kid looked back briefly to see Cloak Kid standing in the doorway to his room. He was wearing a purple cloak that went down to his ankles. It was held on by a green clip with a swirl design. He coughed a little.

“Cloak! I told you to stay in bed!” Hat Kid hissed.

“Two passengers?!” the man said. “Toll is now double!”

“What the heck? Who’s that?!” the boy said, pointing.

“Nobody in a second!” Hat Kid said, walking over to the captain’s seat for her umbrella. “Now go back to bed!”

The boy facepalmed. _Sign of trouble? Whack it aside._ That was her solution?

“A trespasser is my problem, too,” Cloak Kid snapped, stomping his foot.

“Not while you’re ill! I’m not gonna tell you again!”

“What are you? My mom? We’re the same age, genius!”

“Uh… Mafia just come in to collect,” the man said, awkwardly. Cloak Kid gasped when the man put his hand on the handle, starting to open the door.

Hat Kid rushed forward, jumping onto the gold frame of the window and grabbed the handle. She pulled it shut, making the man let go. He began floating away. The boy sighed in relief. The girl jumped back down and brushed her fingers. Faintly, they could hear the man said, “How rude!”

“See? That’s why I protect us! Now go back to bed!” she said, triumphantly.

“Uh, Hattie?” Cloak said, pointing back at the window.

Hat Kid turned around just in time to see this supposed “Mafia” man double back and throw himself forward.

“NO!” Cloak Kid yelled.

It was too late. With one punch, the glass on the window shattered as he punched inside. Immediately, he was sucked back out by the vacuum of space. With that, everything started getting pulled out, as well. Hat Kid, who was near the door, covering her face from the glass shards, screamed as she was pulled out into space, sent hurtling towards the planet. She lost her grip on her umbrella.

Meanwhile, Cloak Kid rushed towards the giant vault, upon hearing the locks coming loose. It was enormous, locked shut with many turnable valves with a big orange hand clock that read the hours in Roman Numerals. The cloaked boy clung to the door, trying to keep it shut, but the pull of space was too strong. The boy yelped when shiny looking hourglasses started flying out. He jumped for one and grabbed it, but more were pouring out. The child realized he let go of the vault and was sucked outside as well, screaming. Each hourglass that passed his gaze was a pull on the heartstrings, as he descended towards the planet below...

_ElectricBlaster Presents..._

_A Hat In Time - A Cloak In Time’s Trials_


	2. One Piece At A Time

Once, next to a grand building, there stood a tall tower. A large telescope pointed to the sky, ever observing the stars. Beside it, and attached to the side of it was a giant library. And the one behind this grand scheme of a building was an old man. He had white hair and quite the small white beard. His eyes matched the color of the clear open skies and he wore a gray suit.

Far below, at the bottom of the tower, out of access to the public of course. He was just a curious man in a small, curious space for a home. In his spare time, he was at work in his study. A small room with rows of a private collection of books, not available to the public. A couch was set near a fireplace for the rare occasion he had a visitor, or when he just wanted to relax. His desk was littered with maps and books, and there he was, whiling away the hours at his work.

Suddenly, the wooden door swung open, startling him, as loud crying was heard. He looked to see a crying boy, with brown hair, a red tunic, and purple cloak draped over his back, covering his eyes with his hands.

“Grandfather! I-”

The man stood, his height looming over the smaller person.

“Cloaky, I told you not to come in here without asking!”

The child wiped his eyes, hiccuping through his sobs, trying to speak.

“I’m s-sorry…”

The elder knelt down and pulled the boy into his arms. He kept crying, shivering in fear. “It’s alright. What happened?”

“I-I was… s-studying… in the library,” Cloak Kid said. “A-And…”

The man turned to the crying child. His tone made him quite concerned. “And what?”

“A kid pushed me down and took my lunch!” the child sobbed. “I hit my arm on the desk. I-I was so scared, I-I just sat there on the floor.”

The man held the child in front of him. Cloak’s face was still wet with tears. “Are you hurt?” The boy shook his head. “It’s okay,” the man said. “What matters is that you’re safe. I’ll make you another lunch, okay?”

Cloak Kid sniffled. He was still clinging to him. “Okay…”

“Do you know what they looked like?”

“Uh-huh…” the child nodded. “Her hair was brown, and she tied it back in a ponytail.”

“Anything else?”

“Uh… She wore a purple top hat.”

“Hmm…” The man thought to himself for a second. “I’ll make sure to look at the cameras in case she comes back. Now, how about I make you your favorite soup instead and you can eat that for lunch?”

The child sniffed, wiping his nose. Then he nodded. “Okay…” The man took his hand and they walked out of the study together.

“Is child dead?”

“Grandfather…?” Cloak Kid whispered, softly, as he opened his eyes. He realized that had been gripping sand.

_Wait… sand?!_ he thought.

“Child can’t pay toll if dead.”

The child pushed himself onto his knees and found himself on a beach. The ocean was blue, reflecting the image of many hot air balloons that were in the sky. There were several palm trees, music could be heard faintly from a radio, surfing boards were near the rocky slope, and tables with some umbrella giving shade were set up.

“How did I…” The second Cloak Kid l laid eyes on another Mafia man, it all came back to him. Arguing with Hat Kid, seeing an intruder, the glass door breaking and…

_The hourglasses…_

“You!” Cloak Kid snapped. He covered his mouth to cough, causing several Mafiosos to back away.

“Is child sick?!” one of them said. “Mafia can’t have child spreading sickness!”

Cloak Kid gasped. With a clump of sand still in his grip he stood up, and threw a shroud of sand, getting some of it in their eyes. Several of them yelled and others started coughing. The child stood up and backed away, pulling up his hood.

“Hey, kid! Over here!” a voice called.

Turning around, a red hooded girl was on some nearby stairs near a local residence. “Come with me if you want to not get clobbered!”

The child rushed towards the girl, jumping onto an umbrella covering a table and bouncing him onto the staircase before a Mafia man could grab him. He almost tripped on the stairs, but the girl grabbed his wrist and they kept running.

As the two ran through the town, Cloak Kid took in the place he had found himself in. There were many white buildings with blue roofs. Orange stone paving was on the ground and Mafiosos were everywhere. He was led into an alleyway, and started to feel uneasy. Sure, his rescuer was a kid like him, but still a stranger, no less.

She kept looking out onto the street for a bit and then turned back to the cloaked child.

“I think we lost them,” she said. Upon closer inspection, it looked like she had blond hair. Two long locks were hanging on the sides of her head. Her eyes were golden and she had a small mustache on her face. Her tunic was pink and she wore green shoes. Cloak Kid couldn’t help but notice that the edges of her tunic were a little torn. “What’s up with you?” the mustached girl said, putting her hands on her hips. “Why are you wearing a hood like me?”

“It’s not a hood!” said Cloak Kid. “It’s a cloak! See?” He made it cover the rest of his body.

“Okay, don’t overreact,” said the girl. “I was looking over at the beach after seeing you, you know, FALL FROM THE SKY! Also these shiny things were falling, too. Do you know anything about that?”

“Th-that?!” Cloak Kid said. He jolted, looking around like he’d find any sign of them. “Uh, they’re…” He paused for a second to sneeze.

“You sick or something?” said the mustache girl.

“Yes…” the boy said, wiping his nose. “Well, no… It’s a long story… It doesn’t matter. Have you seen any of those… shiny things?”

“Those are yours?” the girl said, leaning forward, golden eyes widened in disbelief. “Yikes! Sounds like you have a lot of cleaning up to do.”

Cloak Kid rolled his eyes. He knew that, he didn’t need this mustached girl rubbing it in. “It wasn’t me! It was… Look, the point is, I need those things before something bad happens.”

“Hmm… Come with me. I know a good vantage point.”

Mustache Girl guided Cloak Kid to a tower near a construction sight. The two grabbed onto a crane to reach the top floor where there was a bell. From there, Cloak Kid could see the tops of buildings.

“Here we are,” the girl, who Cloak Kid had just decided to dub Mustache Girl, said. “Those Mafia brutes are too dumb to get up here.”

“Uh huh…” Cloak Kid said, watching Mafia pass by.

“So, did you fall from that spaceship that’s up in the sky?”

“Yeah.”

“Wait, so you’re from off planet?”

Cloak Kid gasped, seeing a Mafia man walking down the alleyway with an hourglass. Holding his hood in place, he jumped off the tower. Mustache Girl watched as he landed on a Mafia’s head knocking him out and running after the one with the hourglass.’

“Geez, that kid is crazy!” She cracked a little smile. “I like it.”

Cloak Kid made it to a market place. Some building was selling juice at a stall and another place was condemned. The fountain was smashed and a Mafia Man was holding an hourglass in one hand and a blue umbrella in the other. That was Hat Kid’s umbrella! The child stomped over to the man.

“HEY!”

The mafioso turned around to see the kid walking towards him. He held out the umbrella held him back. Cloak Kid growled, trying to reach for the hourglass and he held it away with a smug smile. Then he just snatched the umbrella from him, and the Mafioso started running.

“Get back here!” the child yelled.

Hat Kid got her bearings, finding herself in a dark alley. It looks like she fell through a tarp. The man who had shattered the hatch had also fallen nearby and was completely passed out. She checked herself, seeing that nothing was broken and leapt onto her feet. She stomped past the Mafia man, trying to figure out where she was.

It looked like she had fallen into the middle of the city. She left the dark alley and found the planet’s sun shining down on her. At least the brim of her top hat did a good job shading her eyes from it.

Then she remembered. All those hourglasses fell out of the ship. They zoomed passed her as fell towards the planet.

_Oh, boy…_ Had Kid thought. _Cloak is never gonna let me hear the end of… Wait! Cloak! Where is he?! Did he land in the city?!_ She started running into the town looking up, down and all around. She nearly tripped over a red safe. _Gotta find him! she thought. He’d better not have gotten into trouble! Arrgh!_

Hat Kid made it to a construction sight, but didn’t really see much of the Mafia actually working. One of them was balancing on a giant hunk of meat while rolling it up and down the street.

What is this place? Hat Kid thought. She looked up at the nearby bell tower and saw a girl up there. Upon making eye contact, the hatted child looked away.

“Hey you, down there!” the girl then called from above. Her voice made Hat Kid look back up. “Don’t think I didn’t see you stalking me!”

“Uh, sorry?” said Hat Kid. “I was… looking for someone.”

“Really? Who?” said Mustache Girl. “I don’t think I’ve seen you around here before either.”

“He’s a kid around my age. Wears a cloak. Have you seen him?”

“Ohhh, yeah. He was just here. Us kids should stick together not stalk one another. Come up here, and I’ll show you where he went.”

“Uh… okay,” Hat Kid said, looking around. She saw moving crane lifting a stack of boxes and jumped on as it went up. Then she jumped into the tower. The girl leaned back against the frame of the window. “Is that who you’re looking for?”

Hat Kid looked down and saw Cloak Kid swinging her umbrella at the Mafia.

“Cloak!” The girl turned to the mustached girl. “Who are those people?”

“They’re the Mafia,” said Mustache Girl. “They’re pretty much everywhere in the city.”

Cloak Kid was holding something close to him. The girl was already relieved to see him with one of the hourglasses, but there were too many Mafia, and they were surrounding him.

“Oh no! We have to help him!”

“You read my mind!” Mustache Girl said, leaping on the frame of the window. “Follow me, rebel squad!”

Hat Kid, smile on her face, jumped down following the red hooded girl as they landed on a wireline with blue and white tapestries and landed on the ground, rushing forth towards the commotion, which was in the marketplace’s fountains. Shops were set up, including a building that sold something called spicy buns, but the yellow tape told Hat Kid that it was closed.

“Where did little punk go?! Take shiny hourglass!”

“Uh…” Hat Kid almost spoke up when the mustached girl, pulled her along.

“Don’t make eye contact,” she said. “We’ll find him.” The two made towards the other side of the market area, when they saw a bit of purple fabric sticking out from the corner of a blue safe.

“Cloak?”

Suddenly, Cloak Kid rose up from behind, raising Hat Kid’s umbrella and pointing it at the two girls.

“Easy, kid,” said Mustache Girl. “It’s just us.”

The boy’s eyes darted around, looking at the two girls. “Hattie?”

“Cloak!” Hat Kid exclaimed. She jumped, almost knocking over the other child, when hugged him.

“Easy, easy!” Cloak Kid said, pushing Hat Kid back. “You’re gonna break it!” Tucked under his cloak was one of the shiny hourglasses. Hat Kid sighed, wiping her brow.

“Sorry…” Hat Kid said, timidly, stepping back.

“And they’ll probably break it they get their hands on it!” said Mustache Girl.

The two kids looked in the girl’s direction and saw a bunch of angry Mafia men walking towards them. Suddenly, Mustache Girl snatched Hat Kid’s umbrella and threw in the face of one of them, before jumping and kicking said Mafioso in the face, making him fall flat backwards. The umbrella landed by Hat Kid’s feet.

“Leave them to me! Now get that thing out of here!” she said.

“B-But-” Hat Kid said, before Cloak Kid grabbed her arm, just after she picked up her umbrella. The boy rolled up his sleeve, revealing a device strapped around his wrist.

“Two to beam up!” he said into it.

Before the remaining Mafia could close in, a yellow light shined down upon the two children, a force of wind knocking their enemies away as they floated back up, past the tall buildings, past the clouds, and into space itself, until they were finally back in the ship’s airlock. The two landed in a small empty room, the doors closing to prevent them from getting sucked back into space.

“W-What are you doing?!” Hat Kid said, practically pouncing on Cloak Kid and pinning him on the ground. His hood fell down, revealing his brown hair on impact after a tiny yelp. “We can’t just leave that girl there alone.”

“She said she had it!” Cloak Kid grunted, pushing the girl off. He got up and stumbled to the door, stifling a cough.

“How did the ship even get us in here?”

“The ship has an emergency generator, but it can only run small basic functions.” The boy walked up to a panel and pressed a small green button. “Activate space forcefield.” The sound of something whirring could be heard before the door out of the airlock opened and they made their way back to the ship’s lobby. A bright yellow forcefield had surrounded the ship, keeping them inside, despite the shattered door.

The room was dark, as expected. Hat Kid took in her surroundings while Cloak Kid ran up to the screen up the stairs and on the back wall of the lobby. Rumbi was still okay, and flipped around upon seeing that they were back.

“No, no, no, no no!” Cloak Kid then pleaded. “It can’t be!”

The hatted girl turned around to see her ship companion pressing his hands on the screen, trembling, unable to stand on his own two feet, and she could see why. The screen read that there were no hourglasses on the ship.

Even though he knew they were gone, seeing that it said on the screen made Cloak Kid’s legs give out and he fell on his knees.

"We're stranded here..."

Rumbi had zoomed slowly up the stairs and bumped into Hat Kid’s ankle, making timid little “boop” noises.

“I-I…” Cloak Kid started to shake even more. Hat Kid ran up and quickly put her hands on his shoulders.

“H-Hey, hey…” she said, gently. “We got one back. That’s something.” The girl frowned upon seeing the boy wipe his eyes. “I… I shouldn’t have opened that door. I should’ve just drove us away. I-”

Cloak Kid then just brushed Hat Kid’s hands away and stood up, clutching the one hourglass he had and walked over to the vault. He motioned for Hat Kid to turn around and she did, sighing sadly. Rumbi did, as well.

Cloak Kid gazed solemnly into the empty vault. His heart dropped at the sight of it. He put the only hourglass he had in, and locked it shut.

“I, uh… I need to make improvements to the vault, I guess.” The boy laid his hands on the vault, gazing up at the orange clock. “What are we going to do? The Time Pieces got scattered all around the planet…” The child sniffed, letting his eyes water, “but if we don’t get the Time Pieces back-”

Hat Kid turned around and shook her head. She took a deep breath, ignoring how pale Cloak Kid was. “It won’t come to that, I promise! I know it seems impossible, but let’s just go slowly.”

The boy turned his head towards the hat-wearing child. “Slowly?”

“Don’t think of it as one big goal,” said Hat Kid. “We’ll just take one at a time. But, right now, can we please go back and help that girl?”

Suddenly, the two heard the ship whirring back to life. The lights turned back on in the lobby. Cloak Kid, as if he snapped out of a trance, immediately wiped away any more tears he had and dashed towards the captain’s chair.

He started pressing buttons, but then was stuck on what to press next. Hat Kid came up from behind him and hit a tiny blue button with a little, “boop.”

A screen showed them the surface of the planet picking up signals.

“Here’s the town we were in,” said Cloak Kid. “It looks like there’s still Time Pieces there. There’s one in the Mafia Town Plaza.”

“Yeah…”

“We have to…” The boy covered his mouth before sneezing.

“You mean _I_ have to,” said Hat Kid. She was given a glare in return, but Cloak Kid let her touch his forehead. “Please, you still have a fever, and it could get worse if you leave. Let me take care of it.”

Cloak Kid sat down in the captain’s chair, leaning against the pillows Hat Kid set up on it. “I… I guess don’t really have a choice, do I?”

The girl walked up and neatly wrapped the boy’s cloak around him. She knew he was upset with her, but probably more about their current situation.

“Just get warm and relax,” said Hat Kid. “I’ll go get it and bring it back here.”

“Fine…” He covered his mouth, coughing into his red sleeve. He jolted upon the hatted child hugging him.

“I’ll be back really soon, okay?”

Cloak Kid sighed letting his head rest on her shoulder. “Just… be careful, Hattie.”

Hat Kid sighed. Nickname. That probably meant good. “I will…” And she leaned him back against the pillows.

Umbrella in hand, Hat Kid walked over to where the glass door used to be. She was sure they had some spare ones in storage. She turned to Rumbi, who stopped zooming around to look at the girl.

“Look after him, okay?” she said. And the Rumbi did two flips before getting back to work. Hat Kid readied her umbrella, promising to Cloak Kid and herself that she wouldn’t let anyone stop her.

Even though she knew… she already failed him… again.


	3. Barrels of Fun and Friction

Using her umbrella, Hat Kid descended back into “Mafia Town,” as Mustache Girl had called it. On the way, she took notice of a building that was being held up in the air by a giant water spout. Maybe, if she had left the ship in a different spot, she could’ve landed up there.

She ended up back in the marketplace, where Cloak had found their first Time Piece. First things first, was to find the next one that the ship found on it’s radars, but the fate of that red hooded girl was distracting the hat-wearing child. Since her shipmate was forced into bedrest, or in this case, “chair rest,” Hat Kid was sure he wouldn’t mind if she took a quick detour. With a deep breath she focused, her top hat making her vision dim, minus the one place where she wanted to go: Her goal.

Hat Kid shook her head, her vision readjusting back to normal and ran towards her goal. As she got closer, she heard a voice in the wind.

_“I’m not going anywhere with you! Let go!”_ a voice shouted.

Hat Kid’s heart started racing. It had to be that red hooded girl.

_“Dude, get off me!”_

Hat Kid’s jaw dropped once she reached the plaza. Brown and orange stone paving covered the area in a circular shape, with a grassy area surrounding it. There were some stalls that appeared empty at the moment, and she could see why. At the center of town was the biggest pyramid of TNT she had ever seen. Mafia were dancing in celebration, and at the top was one of them restraining Mustache Girl. The blonde was feisty, though. She was yelling and kick

“If you don’t drop me _right now,_ I’ll _bite!”_ she shouted.

Hat Kid held her umbrella close. She had to take action, before something bad happened. Pulling down a gulp, she approached the men.

“This looks safe,” she mumbled. Her tiny voice immediately caught the gang’s attention, though.

“Hey! Child! Shoo!” one of them ordered. “Mafia can’t have child witness when Mafia teaching lesson.”

Unfortunately, Hat Kid had no intention of moving from her spot. She stood there, silently staring at the Mafia man who had already told her to go away until it got awkward. Then she stuck her tongue out blowing raspberries, which made the Mafia’s jaw drop.

“This awkward for Mafia! Mafia not sure what to do.” He turned to the one on top of the barrels, holding Mustache Girl.

“Boss! What do we do with eyewitness?” the Mafia beside the first said.

“Teach her lesson, boys!” their boss said.

The two Mafia jumped down and dashed towards her. “Come to papa Mafia!” one of them said.

Hat Kid snickered, a mischievous smile on her face. One Mafioso lunged at her but she jumped, stomping on his bald head, and knocking him into the ground.

“You can jump?!” the other said, bewildered. That was a big mistake. Him being distracted allowed the girl with the hat to smack him in the face with her umbrella. Two Mafia men laid on the ground in a pile, while Hat Kid stood on top of them triumphantly.

“ENOUGH!” the Mafia at the top of the barrel pile said. “Mafia won’t bow to little girl! Prepare to feel Mafia’s wrath!” He tossed Mustache Girl aside and picked up one of the barrels of TNT.

Hat Kid yelped when he tossed at her. Quickly, she ran out of the way, but stayed close to the pile, as she wanted to get this guy before he caused any more trouble.

“Stand still!”

Naturally, Hat Kid didn’t listen, even when he started throwing spiked barrels, that danced around her running space. The Mafioso threw several of them and Hat Kid almost ran into a barrel that exploded in her face. Luckily, she blocked any shrapnel from hitting her with her umbrella.

“This lead nowhere!” the Mafia decided. “Mafia need to take care of this Mafia style! Prepare to feel what Mafia do to old ladies!”

“Old lady? I’m only-”

The boss jumped down, marching towards Hat Kid. The agile child jumped over the Mafioso whacking him, until he started blocking her swings.

“Child is predictable!” is what the Mafia said, until Hat Kid jumped and stomped on his head. “OW! MY HEAD!”

Hat Kid snickered when she landed on her feet, but her laughter was halted when she was smacked by the Mafia’s fist into a stall. When the girl stood, scratches on her clothes, she saw the man throwing a barrel of TNT at her.

Hat Kid held her feet apart and her umbrella back. She yelled, hitting the barrel of TNT with all her might and launched it back at the Mafia. The impact sent him into the pile and all of it exploded, sending him flying into the sky, screaming.

A huge crater was left in the center of the plaza, and Hat Kid stood. Tired and shaken up, but triumphant. She looked up, seeing something shiny falling down from the sky. The girl gasped running into the center of the crater and holding out her hands, and to her luck, it was a Time Piece. Hat Kid fumbled when the hourglass touched her hands, but she caught, sighing with relief that she didn’t break it. Among the wreckage, the girl saw a bit of red and white. To her surprise, it was a ball of yarn that looked ready to sprint, causing a smile to grow across her face.

“Pfft. Can you believe them?” said a voice. “What a bunch of losers.”

The red hooded girl came back, looking around at the crime scene. Seeing her approach, Hat Kid quickly hid the Time Piece behind her.

“Thanks for helping me out, by the way. I guess you and cloak boy are all right. Do you have a name?”

“U-Um…” Hat Kid, chuckled softly. Heat began filling her cheeks. She couldn’t dare answer. She just met this girl earlier today.

“No?” Mustache Girl said with a raised brow. “You shy? You’re a ‘less talk, more fighting’ kind of girl, I take it.” And with that, she smiled instead. Hat Kid was just relieved she didn’t press any further. “So, that thing you picked up… are you and that other kid collecting them? Because I know where there’s more of them.”

Hat Kid gasped. Holding the shiny hourglass tightly, she ran up to the hooded girl.

“You do?!” she said. “You’ll tell me, right?!”

Mustache girl laughed. “Of course, I will. Just calm down. You did save me, after all.” She looked over Hat Kid’s shoulder where more Mafia were coming. Hat Kid lifted her umbrella, but they were coming from every direction.

“Uh, maybe we could go somewhere safer first?” Mustache Girl said.

“Uh…” Hat Kid looked for any openings, but couldn’t find any. Well, she had one idea, but Cloak Kid would probably get mad. “Do you trust me?”

“I don’t really have a choice right now!”

“Grab my hand!”

Once Mustache Girl took hold of one Hat Kid’s hand, she pulled up her sleeve and talked into a device. “Two to beam up!”

“WHOOOAAA!” Mustache Girl screamed. A yellow spotlight shined down on the two girls, as a gust of wind blew the enemy Mafia away and the girls started floating into the sky and beyond the clouds and into space.

Once they were in the ship, Hat Kid guided her red hooded acquaintance out of the airlock and into the ship’s lobby. Mustache Girl looked around, her mouth opened and eyes fixated on the walls, the windows, and the other ship features.

“Whoooaaaa…” Mustache Girl said once again, except more calmly. “This place is-” She was interrupted when Hat Kid covered her mouth.

“Shh…”

Mustache Girl looked in the direction of the hat-wearing child. Cloak Kid was still in the captain’s chair, but he was asleep, snuggled up against the pillows. His arms were tucked under his cloak that was still wrapped around him.

“Can I draw on his face?” Mustache Girl whispered.

“No!” Hat Kid said, even though she started giggling. Holding the Time Piece close, she walked up to the sleeping child and felt his forehead, and breathed a sigh of relief. “His fever’s gone.”

“What’s wrong with him?” said the red hooded girl.

“It’s a long story…” Hat Kid said, rubbing the back of her head. She looked over when she saw her shipmate stirring, muttering softly. His eyes opened slowly, and the first thing he saw was a glittering Time Piece. Immediately, Cloak Kid jolted and snatched the hourglass from his shipmate.

“You found another one!” he exclaimed.

“See? I told you I’d get it.”

Cloak Kid laid back in the chair, holding the Time Piece gently, but firmly. “I…” He gazed into the hourglass, seeing his reflection in the glass, and also noticing the green swirl on the frame that matched his cloak pin… along with the top hat that matched Hat Kid’s hat. “I guess you did, Hattie.”

“Oh, so that’s your name?” said Mustache Girl.

“Nope,” Hat Kid chimed, happily.

Cloak Kid gasped, and he looked around the back of the chair.

“Hey, it’s you…” he said. “Wait.” He then turned to Hat Kid. “Hattie, you brought an outsider onto the ship?!”

“I had to, Cloak!” said Hat Kid.

“I’m guessing that’s not your name, either…” said Mustache Girl.

“Nope,” the cloaked child said.

The Mafia were everywhere and one of them grabbed her. So I whacked a barrel of TNT into him and saved the day!”

“You should’ve been there!” said Mustache Girl. “He flew so far, I think he went to another island.”

“Yeah,” Cloak Kid grumbled. “I wish.” Hat Kid just shrugged.

“You can’t help it when you have a fever,” said Hat Kid. “Can we please just let her stay until the Mafia calm down from what we did today?”

Cloak Kid, realizing he still had his hood up from napping earlier, turned to Mustache Girl looking into her golden eyes, blinked a few times and then pulled his hood down.

“Okay. She can stay.”

“Hooraaay!” Hat Kid cheered.

“Just make sure she doesn’t break anything.”

“Pfft. Unless there’s Mafia up here, nothing’s getting broken.”

Cloak Kid held the Time Piece with even more of a firm grip. “Uh… Hattie, why don’t take her to get something to eat.”

“Okay!” Hat Kid said, excitedly. “C’mon, I’ll show you the kitchen.”

“Uh… Okay.” The red hooded girl followed Hat Kid up the ladder shortcut and to the swinging blue doors that led into the kitchen.

Cloak Kid hugged the Time Piece like it was a stuffed toy, blinking, trying to process what he saw when he looked into Mustache Girl’s golden eyes. He stood up, and decided to store away the Time Piece while they weren’t in the room.

Meanwhile, Hat Kid hopped over to the counter where the stove was and tried to think about what she could make for tonight’s guest. Mustache Girl was too busy staring at something that was making her mouth water: FOOD. EVERYWHERE.

Hat Kid hopped to open the top cupboard and then again to grab a box of cookie dough.

“Okay, I’ve got something. It might take a bit, so if you’re hungry, help yourself to something in the…” She looked over to see Mustache Girl already running to the fridge and rummaging through it. “...fridge.” Hat Kid softly finished her sentence.

While Mustache Girl was stuffing her face, the two girls jolted at the sound of something slamming shut.

“That’s probably Cloak,” said Hat Kid. “Can you check on him?”

“Mm-hmm,” Mustache Girl out before swallowing some food in her mouth. She walked out of the kitchen to find Cloak Kid backing away from the vault.

“Oh, don’t mind me,” the boy shifted awkwardly.

“Did you put that hourglass in that thing?”

“Uh… yeah. They’re really valuable… to us. So, we keep them in there. I’m the only one who knows how to open it, though.”

“So… do you have a name?” Mustache Girl said, hands on her hips.

Cloak Kid raised a brow. “Of course I do, but don’t see why I need to tell you.”

“So… I know what to call you?”

The boy thought for a moment, and then an idea switched on like a light.

“Ohhh… you’re from that planet, right? Well…” He tucked away his hands, his cloak covering the rest of his body, with only his boots showing at his feet, before he faced the giant window in the lobby facing space and the planet that was foreign to Cloak Kid and his shipmate. “Where we’re from, we come up with nicknames for each other. Telling someone your real name is a sign of deep trust and respect.”

“Or like, a profession of love, or something?”

“Huh?” Cloak Kid brushed aside from his trail of thought. “Oh yeah. I think I was told that at one point, too.”

“Wow. Off planet customs are weird,” said Mustache Girl. “But, I kind of like it. It brings an air of mystery. I guess you and that Hat Kid know each other’s names, right?”

That sentence, finally forced the boy to look at the guest in question. He tried to find the right words, but had trouble making the words come out.

“W-Well, I-”

“Cookies are ready!” Hat Kid exclaimed, triumphantly as she bust through the doors to the kitchen. She was holding a tray of fully baked cookies and marched past the two other children. “C’mon! Let’s go talk and eat in my room. But I don’t want crumbs in my pillow fort!”

“Didn’t you have something on the stove, too?” said Cloak Kid.

“Yeah, but it shouldn’t be ready for about…” Hat Kid turned back to see smoke coming out from the kitchen. “Oh no! Oh no!” She dashed right back in, almost dropping the tray, only for it to be caught by the cloak-wearing boy. He picked up a cookie and showed it too Mustache Girl, who had been eyeing them the whole time.

“Um… Want-” He didn’t even finish his sentence, before Mustache Girl had taken it and was already munching down on it. Cloak Kid shyly walked past her, heading towards the ramp back to the ground level of the lobby. “Well, we should head to Hat Kid’s room.” The red hooded girl followed behind her, not knowing how nervously the boys eyes were darting around. She looked up from a red platform with an hourglass symbol on it. It looked like it went up somewhere, but she had no idea how to get up there. She also was suspicious of how he kept looking over his shoulder to look at her.

“Um, sorry. I know we’re kind of a bit of a mess,” Cloak Kid said, as they entered the hallway to Hat Kid’s room. “We don’t normally have guests in here.”

“Eh, that’s okay, I guess,” said Mustache Girl. “Anyone who’s an enemy of the Mafia is a friend of mine.”

Cloak Kid nervously laughed and they entered Hat Kid’s bedroom.

“So, you can probably sleep in Hat Kid’s pillow fort.”

“Oh my gosh!” Mustache Girl said, staring at the pile of pillows before her. Cloak Kid had just set the cookies down at Hat Kid’s desk, when Mustache was already trying to swim in it. “I can sleep in this?!”

“If you want, I guess,” said Cloak Kid. “I doubt Hattie will mind. Oh, just stay out of her secret fort.” He lowered his voice to a whisper. “That's where she keeps her diary. Oof!” The boy flinched upon feeling a pillow hit him.

Mustache Girl stood on the pillow fort masterpiece, cackling to herself. Instead of getting mad, Cloak Kid actually started laughing. He took the pillow that hit him and ran back towards her.

“Oh, you’re gonna get it now!”

Laughter echoed throughout the room, when suddenly the doors slid open and Hat Kid walked dusting some soot off herself. While cushions were flying everywhere.

“Okay, so we have desert, but bad news about din-” She was then hit by a stray pillow, flying through the air, and fell flat on her back.

Hat Kid slowly sat up and took the yellow cushion off her face and stood up slowly, seeing the other two kids staring.

“Big mistake…” She lifted her pillow and yelled running into the fray.

Their pillow war went on into the night, and by the next morning there was an empty plate of cookies and three children, sleeping among a pile that was Hat Kid’s pillow pile masterpiece.

Mustache Girl was the first to wake up the next morning, and leapt down to wander into the lobby. Hat Kid woke up next, rubbing her eyes and seeing how messy her hair was. Her top hat had fallen from the pile onto the floor, and Cloak Kid was still asleep near her, curled up in his cloak nestled in some pillows. She felt his forehead and sighed in relief. No fever today. The girl climbed down, leaving her shipmate to rest a little while longer and headed into the kitchen.

When she got there, Hat Kid saw Mustache Girl staring at the open fridge.

“Oh, hey. Are you hungry?”

“Yeah, but I don’t know what to get…” the red hooded girl said.

“Well, I could reheat that soup I made for Cloak yesterday, but it might take a while on the stove.”

“Can’t you just put it in the microwave?”

“That’s only for food that’s been bad!” Hat Kid said, hands on her hips.

“Is that another one of your weird customs?” the blonde question as the hat wearing child climbed up on a barrel that was against the counter and jumped to the cabinet to reach a medicine bottle. “What’s that?”

“It’s for Cloak.” Hat Kid jumped back down. “He has to take it every morning or he could get really sick, but since he hates taking medicine, I have to give it to him.”

“Hmm. Sound like a handful when it comes to that. How do you do it?”

A mischievous smile grew across the Hat Kid’s face. “I have several methods.”

_“Come on, kiddo. It’s time for today’s lesson.”_

Cloak Kid stirred, snuggling tighter onto his pillows.

“Can’t it wait just a little longer, Gran…” The child cracked one eye open, being pulled back from the world of dreams and saw Hat Kid shaking him gently as they were in her bedroom. “Huh?”

“Morning,” she said, softly.

Cloak Kid sat up, rubbing his eyes. “Wh-Where’s that other girl?”

“She was in the kitchen, but I thought she followed me in here…” Hat Kid looked back at the door, but didn’t see her coming. Since they were alone, she decided to ask about the way he looked at her yesterday. “So… what did you see when you looked at her? You were using your cloak power right?”

“I… Images, really…” her shipmate mumbled. “It was just her beating the Mafia up. I barely know her, Hattie. I have to get to know her, if you want me to know more about her. Why are you asking?”

“N-No reason…” That was a lie.

Cloak Kid closed his eyes, and stretched starting to yawn, when Hat Kid shoved a spoonful of medicine in mouth. The boy’s reflexes made him swallow, but his face scrunched up from the taste, and he shuddered. Hat Kid giggled and hopped off the pillow pile.

“Now that that’s taken care of, I’ll make breakfast,” said Hat Kid.

“Hattie, why?” Cloak Kid whined, flopping back on the pillow pile.

“Oh, come on. It’s not that bad.”

“Y-You try it, then…” the boy whimpered, softly.

Actually, Hat Kid could smell that it was pretty bitter, just from holding the cap open, but that really couldn’t be helped. Against Cloak’s whining, Hat Kid dragged him from her room through the lobby and into the kitchen. Luckily for them, Mustache Girl actually went ahead and made toasted jelly sandwiches for everyone.

“Are you ready to take down some Mafia?! Let’s do it! I’m psyched!” She took a bite out her sandwich and ran out of the kitchen.

“Hey, where are you going?” Cloak Kid was the first one out and saw her going down the hallway that led to his room. Upon reaching there, they saw that Mustache GIrl had approached his chalkboard, but there were a bunch of drawings on it. “Hey, my board!”

“Hey, it’s fine,” said Mustache Girl. “There was just some math on it.”

“My equations…” Cloak Kid mumbled. Hat Kid patted his shoulder, but was given no response in return.

Mustache Girl walked back up to the chalkboard and started pointing at things with a peculiar cane. It was brown, made of the finest wood, stripped subtly with gold, and the ends contained a green sphere with a swirl matching the clip on Cloak Kid’s cloak clip.

“Hey, that’s-”

“Oh, I’ll give it back,” said Mustache Girl. “Calm down.” She pointed at one of her doodles. It was of her choking a Mafioso, with his own tie. “First, we strangle them!” she said. “Choke ‘em and watch ‘em beg for mercy! That’ll show them.” Her tone made Cloak Kid wince. Hat Kid opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted. “No, wait, strangling is too kind…”

“Wait, wha-” Cloak Kid almost said, before Mustache Girl quickly erased her doodle and drew something else. Now it was of her stomping on a Mafia and then there was a jar.

“We smash them together into mush, put their remains in a jar! _Then_ we sell the jar for pocket money! That’ll be the _ultimate_ salt in the wound.”

“Um, I think we should stay focused,” Cloak Kid spoke up. “We need our hourglasses back first.

Mustache Girl sighed. “Right, right… First, we have to make it through their Mafia HQ. That junk has been raining from the sky every since you guys arrived. They’ve taken them to their headquarters which is up really high and somehow held up by a giant water spout.” She pointed at the next picture which was a doodle of a large man with a mustache, a red coat and a chef’s hat. There were tiny notes around like, “Bad,” “Dumb,” and “Probably smells.” “Once we find and dethrone the Mafia Boss, the rest will follow. Then our mush and jar part will be no problem!”

Hat Kid grimaced. “A-And we’ll get the Time Pie- Ow!” Cloak Kid elbowed her arm. “I mean, we’ll our hourglasses back?”

“Hm?” Mustache Girl snapped out of her thoughts. “Oh, right. Well, we’ll need to find a way up there first. There is a cannon near an observatory, but it’s not working right now.

“Oh, I can probably fix that,” said Cloak Kid. “I do help keep this ship working.” He then glanced at his shipmate. “Well, when Hattie isn’t making me stay in bed.”

“Hey, when you're sick, someone gotta let you know, because you certainly don’t,” Hat Kid pouted.

“I guess fixing the cannon will have to be first,” said Mustache Girl. “Okay, cloak boy. Let’s see if you can fix that thing.” She tossed him the cane she was holding and he caught it immediately.

Cloak Kid still wasn’t sure about this girl. She seemed pretty bent on violence. He held the cane close, almost like he never wanted to let go of it again. It was almost the same height as him so to him it was kind of like a staff.

“She didn’t break it…” Hat Kid said, as they made their way back to the lobby.

“It belonged to my grandfather…” Cloak Kid grumbled. “C-Can we just go fix the cannon?”

The two made it to the lobby and the two kids raced to get into the captain’s seat. Cloak Kid practically jumped and hopped into the chair.

“I win!” he proclaimed, as the chair spun around with the child in it. Hat Kid merely formed a pout on her lips and just walked up to the giant window at the front. Cloak Kid checked the scanners, and saw multiple Time Piece signals. Mustache Girl was right about Time Pieces with the Mafia, but there appeared to be one near the Town’s observatory. “There’s an hourglass near the observatory.”

Mustache Girl shrugged. “Well, that’s where the canon is.”

Cloak Kid turned around immediately. “Then, we can go there right now?”

“I guess… The Mafia must’ve moved on by now from yesterday’s fight. They’re so forgetful it’s almost sad… but not really. They’re stupid.”

“What’s the weather?” Hat Kid then interjected.

“What do you mean? Who cares?” said Cloak Kid.

_“The weather.”_ Hat Kid glanced over. “Is it raining?”

Cloak Kid huffed, looking back at his screen. “I can get my tools and head down there in-”

“Cloak!”

The boy turned away, but kept his eyes fixed on the screen.

“The sky… seems to be perspirating…” he said. “But I have a waterproof cloa-”

“Nope." Hat Kid crossed her arms. "You’re staying here. It’ll be cold and wet which is bad for you.”

Cloak Kid stood up immediately. “It’s bad for you, too, you know.”

“But even more for you, Cloak!” Hat Kid yelled. “When will you understand?!”

“Let it go, Hattie! I can take care of myself!” The boy took his staff. Hat Kid reached for her umbrella.

Mustache Girl looked back and forth at the two, unsure of what to say. “Um…” Rumbi, who was zooming by, cleaning away, stopped upon seeing what was going on and started backing away slowly.

“Are you seriously going to fight me over this?!” Cloak Kid argued.

“I don’t want to… but I have before! Remember all those times I’ve chased you around the ship, to get you take your medicine? It’s not good for you to go out when it’s raining, even if you are well today.”

“And the-”

_“I’ll_ go get it!” Hat Kid said, sternly. She then stared into his eyes, even when the cloak-wearing boy walked right up to her.

“Yeah, you’d like that, wouldn’t you?” He walked past her, ignoring her glare. Hat Kid then felt one of her feet get hooked and she fell onto the ground. She sat up, and stared that the boy had tripped her with his grandfather’s cane. “And just because I won’t fight you, doesn’t mean I can’t!” he yelled. His voice was loud, but it slowly sounded like he was struggling to get the words out.

Cloak Kid had just made it to the door Hat Kid stood, starting to frown, her face growing soft. “Your health is more important than those hourglasses.”

The boy stopped at the entrance of the hallway to his room. He turned back to her, his emerald eyes full of tears and fury.

“Then you haven’t learned anything in the time we’ve been drifting on this ship together!” he yelled. The boy stormed into the hall, the doors slamming shut, and lights on it turning red, meaning that it was locked.

Hat Kid sat down in the captain’s chair, with Mustache Girl unaware that the hatted child also had tears in her eyes, which she quickly wiped away.

“What was that about?” said Mustache Girl.

“It’s n-nothing…” Hat Kid said, setting her umbrella down in her lap.

“I mean clearly it’s something…”

“It’s… well, he has this condition, and well, it’s a bit complicated and it’s hard when he chooses to ignore it when he’s sick. When he isn’t feeling well, he refuses to stay in bed. He needs his rest, but he’s always walking around or reading.” She stood up. “Do you think you can watch him for me?”

“Are you sure you want to go out there, kid?” said Mustache Girl. “I mean, I know you need all that junk back, but even I know not to go out when it’s raining. The rooftops are slippery, but it is also fun to watch the Mafia be even stupider than usual just because it’s raining.”

“It’s fine,” said Hat Kid. “I’ll be wearing my raincoat.” And she stepped into her room to find it in her wardrobe.


	4. A String of Kindness

Cloak Kid sat on his bed, legs pulled up to his chest, and his hood pulled over his head. No one was around, but still he fought to contain his sobs. He straightened out his legs, pulling out the book he read from the other night. It was made of brown leather, and it was strapped shut, and a golden hourglass crest was on the cover. A single tear fell from the child’s eye and landed on it.

He felt like a prisoner in his own ship. He wasn’t allowed to do or go anywhere because of Hat Kid and his stupid condition. She got them here, lost the Time Pieces, brought a complete stranger onto the ship, and yet, here she was, thinking she was the one in charge. And yet, no matter how confident Cloak Kid had become with his grandfather’s weapon, he could never find it in himself to actually have a battle with her.

“Hey, uh… can I come in?” It sounded like Mustache Girl talking from the mic outside of the room. “That Hat Kid is gone.”

Cloak Kid, holding his book, closed it and walked up to one of the draws at his desk. He slid the book into one of them before locking it shut. Then he sighed, and walked up to the panel next to the door, pressing the green button. The lights on the door turned back to green and Mustache Girl walked in.

“So, you want to fight some Mafia?” she said.

“You heard what Hattie said…” Cloak Kid grumbled, as he searched through some rolls of fabric.

“Yeah…” Mustache Girl said, waltzing her way over. “But, she’s not here right now, is she?”

“The rain is still bad for me, especially…” the boy admitted. “And even if it wasn’t, Hattie won’t stop doting on me.”

“And are you gonna let that stop you?”

Cloak Kid looked over at her. Mustache Girl’s hands were on her hips and she had a mischievous smile on her face.

“If I was like you with the Mafia, I wouldn’t be kicking their butts everyday. I know you don’t want to fight her, so why don’t you just go without asking her, and then come back before she notices.”

“Um, I don’t know…” Cloak Kid mumbled 

“Besides, you’re a kid. Kids need to have fun, you know. I’ll make sure you get back before Hat Kid notices.”

Cloak Kid looked at the fabric before him. He had to get those Time Pieces back, and if he wanted to get to the Mafia HQ, he needed to get that cannon fixed. His hood was still up, and when he looked at the red hooded girl, he saw the same things he saw from when he saw her the first time she came onto the ship: Images of a girl happily beating up the Mafia. It wasn’t the most hopeful image in terms of trust, but she was the best he had.

“Uh… Let’s wait until it’s late,” he said. “Hopefully, the rain will have passed.”

The ship’s weather report was accurate, as always. Rain was falling down from the sky and the clouds had the town in their dark shade.

Hat Kid landed by the docks. She was dressed in a nice yellow raincoat, buttoned up with indigo buttons, with two pockets. The hood and the edges of her sleeves were also the same color as the buttons, and of course she was still wearing her signature top hat.

With her hat, she could see that she had landed far from her goal. The Time Piece was up high on the observatory, and the kid sighed, seeing she had missed. So, she began the walk up. She made sure to avoid any Mafia. When she passed by the plaza, she saw that there was still a huge crater in the center.

She looked at the white brick buildings, the orange, paving roads and the blue doors at every residence with a warm yellow light shining out from the windows. The fountain in the market area was still smashed and no one seemed to be working on fixing it already. Hat Kid thought that for a town overrun by a huge group of burly people they sure were lazy.

There were many things she had never seen before. This planet was strange, but the rain and the tall buildings were bringing back old memories. The words from her shipmate were still weighing heavily on her mind…

“No, it’s true! I’m telling you, Bow!”

Hat Kid was on the rickety stairs in her house, telling the story to a girl with curly brown hair. She had lavender eyes and wore a white shirt with a light blue frilly skirt. A green coat made of yarn kept her warm, with cat shaped pockets, and black boots with a blue stripe around the edges were on her feet. Lastly she had a blue bow tied onto her head, slightly pulling her hair back.

“Are you talking about the old man who runs Time’s End Library?” said Bow.

“Yeah, him!” said Hat Kid. She tore into a paper bag. Inside was some fruit and a box that had a sandwich that had been cut into four perfect triangles. And, there was a juicebox.

“He doesn’t have any kids.”

“But there’s one living at the library! I saw him run into the staff area and no one said anything.”

“Are you sure it wasn’t just Take Your Kid to Work Day?” Bow said, shrugging.

“No! He had a staff key! I saw him when I…” She paused for a moment to think, “tried to talk to him.”

Bow rolled her eyes. “Then how come I’ve never seen him at school?”

“Pfft! Who needs school, when all the information you need is all around you where you live?”

“Fine.” Bow crossed her arms. “Let’s go to the library tomorrow and find that mythical kid.”

Hat Kid stood up and put her hands on her hips. “We’ll see who’s feeling silly tomorrow.” The two girls were then startled by a loud clap of thunder.

“Uh-oh!” Bow hopped down from the steps and grabbed her backpack. “I’d better get home before it starts raining.”

The hat-wearing girl frowned. “A-Are you sure?” she said, as Bow packed her things.

“My parents will start worrying if I don’t…” She dashed towards the door, but once her hand was on the knob, she stopped to look back at her friend. “I’ll try and come back in the morning, and bring you a snack or something.”

Hat Kid sighed. “O-Okay…”

Bow opened the door and adjusted her backpack. “Well, bye…”

As the door closed, Hat Kid almost jumped at a flash of lightning. She sat back down on the stairs, her hands in her lap, staring downward… alone. The thunder and lightning raged on.

“WAH!”

Hat Kid had been so caught up in thinking, that she slipped in the rain and landed face first into some mud. The girl grumbled to herself, moaning softly while trying to wipe away whatever was in her eyes. At least she was almost to the observatory. It was blue with a telescope staring up into the sky. The tower was covered in small twinkling lights like stars.

In the gloomy dark and the pouring rain, Hat Kid made it to the top of the building and made it to the observatory and saw a Mafia man with green glasses that had a stripe pattern on the lenses. His bowtie was red with white stripes and his shirt was red with yellow diamond patterns. One of his sleeves was torn with some of the cotton sticking out. In his hand, however, was a Time Piece. He was looking up and all around and twitching with nervousness, so Hat Kid thought that she wouldn’t have too much trouble. If there was, she had her trusty umbrella.

The Mafioso heard tiny footsteps getting louder behind him. He turned around and saw a small creature reaching out towards the shiny hourglass in his hand.

“What the… HUH?” the man flinched, seeing a muddy, gloopy creature reaching out towards him. “It’s… IT’S SLIMY SPACE ALIEN!”

Hat Kid looked around, seeing no one, but then she looked at herself, and saw how she was mostly covered in mud. _She_ was the slimy space alien! Granted, she wasn’t from this planet. So, that technically made her an alien.

“MAFIA SAW SPACESHIP! MAFIA KNEW ALL ALONG! MAFIA IS BEING INVADED BY ALIENS! AHHHH!”

The Mafia man ran for his life, following a high pitched scream. He jumped over a gap onto a construction site. Hat Kid wasn’t going to let him go until she got the Time Piece. So, she chased after him.

High pitched screams continued to echo throughout the town. Hat Kid continued jumping and running after the man, ignoring his screaming. She just wanted the Time Piece. Finally, they reached a dead end near a pile of boxes and a giant roll of meat. The Mafioso fell onto his knees and looked as if he were pleading to the heavens.

“Leave Mafia alone, you monster!” He pleaded. “Here, if Mafia give you this, will you go away?”

Shaking, he held out the Time Piece for the creature. Hat Kid jumped up and took from his hand. The Mafia man was kind of surprised to hear such a tiny little voice say, “Thank-you,” but at least the monster was gone. Hat Kid waited until she was a good distance away from the man before beaming back to the ship.

Mustache Girl was chasing Rumbi around for exercise, when she saw a muddy Hat Kid walk back in from the ships.

“Whoa! What happened to you?!” she said.

“I fell in some mud…” Hat Kid mumbled. “Cloak, I got another one!” she then yelled.

There was a few seconds of silence, before Cloak Kid walked out from the hallway to his room, and took the hourglass. He then saw Hat Kid and stared for a moment.

“I don’t wanna know.”

“U-Um, I just wanna-”

“Not now…” Cloak Kid then grumbled. He turned back towards his room but stopped after a few steps. “Um… Make sure you take a bath and change. Don’t catch a cold.” He then went back into his room and the doors shut.

“He’s speaking to me again…” Hat Kid said, relieved. He was probably going to wait until everyone was asleep to put the Time Piece back in the vault. “Kind of…” She turned back to Mustache Girl. “Well, I’m gonna wash up.” Hat Kid left muddy footsteps as she made her way to her room. Rumbi was already chasing after her to clean up the mud staining the carpet.

Hours of silence passed on the ship. Mustache Girl spent her time, wandering the ship, feeling that she could cut the tension in the ship with a knife, if she had one. She wasn’t really experienced when it came to dealing with people and their problems, especially when she wasn’t completely in the know of what was going on. All she knew was beating up the Mafia, but if they were in on beating them up, too, it was nice to know she wouldn’t be all alone anymore.

Eventually, Cloak Kid came out, holding his grandfather’s cane that he used as s staff.

“Are you sure you’re gonna need that thing?” said Mustache Girl.

“I know, it’s weird, but it has some tricks to it,” said Cloak Kid. “Besides, those Mafia could still bother us.”

“I guess…” said Mustache Girl. “Let’s go!”

Made of the finest cloth, Cloak Kid’s cloak protected him from the cold that was the aftermath of the rain. The sun had set and everything was still quiet. Mustache Girl wasn’t expecting to just jump off like Cloak Kid had, but she did. The problem was, how were they going to land?

“WHY DID I AGREE TO THIS?!” she shouted.

“Grab onto me!” Cloak Kid yelled.

Mustache Girl listened, and once she had a grip on his leg, he pulled out his staff and a parachute extended from it, letting them float down gently and they landed on a platform near the observatory.

Once Mustache Girl was on her feet, she noticed Cloak Kid staring at the observatory ahead of them. He held his cane close, before turning to her. His hood was up, keeping him warm, and he was holding a small red toolbox.

“What’s up?” she said.

“Nothing…” Cloak Kid said. “Just… I didn’t expect this town to have an observatory… So, where’s the cannon?”

“Right. This way!”

The two kids ran across the top of the building and came across the canon. It was red, with the cannon end looking like it had been fired many times, since the ends looked busted. There was an explosion symbol on the side of it.

Cloak Kid went around the back and took a look after opening a small panel. “Oh. It looks like there’s just some burnt wires. Well, that can be easily replaced.” The child reached into his tool box, pulled out some fresh ones and got work repairing the cannon with his tools. “What the… He pulled out something red from within the cannon. Yarn? Did they think this was wire?”

Mustache Girl was leaning against the cannon, with her arms crossed. “Psh. Why am I not surprised?”

By the time he was done, his hands were covered in soot, but it was all sorted out. He stood up brushing his palms together. “Okay,” he said. “It should work now.” He had pulled out enough yarn that he made a ball of it. It looked ready to sprint.

“Yes!” Mustache GIrl, said excitedly, with a jump. “You go get Hat Kid, I’ll get the jars, and we’ll-”

_“Hey! I wasn’t doing anything!”_

Mustache Girl was the first to look off from the roof, down on the street they could see an orange cat with darker orange spots on the street. She was wearing a chef’s outfit, alone with a hat, but the Mafia were kicking dirt at her.

“Oh no,” said Cloak Kid. “We should get out of here before they see us?” He made a move to leave, but Mustache Girl grabbed his arm.

“Are you serious?!” she said. “We have to help her!” She jumped down, falling towards the head of one of the Mafiosos.

“I…” Cloak Kid sighed, and jumped down, as well. He landed on an umbrella and then onto the ground, where the first thing he saw was a fist flying at his face. The child jumped back and tripped the Mafioso with the cane end of his staff, before jumping onto his chest and knocking him out with a swift swing. He jabbed the last one in the stomach with the other end, before Mustache Girl leapt off Cloak Kid’s back and kicked the last one in the face. The Mafioso fell flat on his back, motionless.

Cloak Kid was out of breath, but he smiled. This was actually really fun.

“There. Happy?” Cloak Kid, grumbled.

“You’re safe now, ma’am!” Mustache Girl said to the cat, triumphantly.

“Thank-you, dearies,” the cat said. “I was just minding my own business, when they decided to bother me. “Are you two hungry? Have no fear, Cooking Cat is here!”

“Actually, I’m not hungry right now,” said Cloak Kid. “But, maybe some other time?”

Cooking Cat nodded. “Of course, dearie. If you’re ever in the neighborhood, just check the rafters in the Mafia HQ. There’s probably a vent or two I’m sure you’re small enough to crawl through. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some shopping to get back to.”

“No problem, ma’am!” Mustache Girl waved to the cat as she walked away. “This town is under my watch, now.” The girl turned to Cloak Kid upon seeing his smile. “Hey, what are you smiling for?”

“It… It was fun!” Cloak Kid shrugged his shoulders. “Is this what you do all the time?”

Mustache Girl stretched for a moment. “Yep, and it’s a great way to let off steam? Wanna go beat up some more?”

Cloak Kid nodded. “Yes! But… only a few!” He hid his hands behind his back. “W-We really need to get those hourglasses back.”

“Relax, it’ll only be a few,” said Mustache Girl. “You might even find one on one of those losers. Now, let’s go!”

When Hat Kid woke up, she felt warm, clean and refreshed. She was able to wake up and stretch whenever she wanted now that the morning announcements were offline. Mustache Girl wasn’t sleeping in the pillow pile, so she assumed she got up first, but when she walked out into the lobby after dressing, she wasn’t there, either.

Flustered, Hat Kid rushed into Cloak Kid’s room. She was relieved that it was unlocked, because she was hoping to speak to him.

“Cloak! Have you seen that girl?” said Hat Kid. She rushed to the lump on the beds and started shaking him. “Cloak, come on! I know you’re still mad, but I was only thinking of-”

The second Hat Kid pulled down the sheets, she found a bunch of pillows and blankets bunched up beneath.

“You little…” Hat Kid was almost red, fuming mad. “Where have you gone?!”

Hat Kid, after grabbing Cloak Kid’s medicine from the kitchen, grabbed her umbrella and rushed towards the door to jump down towards Mafia Town.

“You’ve better not have gone in the middle of the rain!” she pouted. “Arrgh! What’s that girl up to?!”

Hat Kid floated down towards Mafia Town once again, and landed in the plaza. Immediately, she started searching around. Her vision dimmed as she tapped into the power of her top hat, pointing her towards her goal: Cloak Kid.

The girl was careful not to slip on the rock cliff on the island’s edges as she found her past the docks. It was when she made it to a tiny beach, that she saw a few signs. They said a few various things that were written in red letters.

**“GO AWAY!”**

**“I’M SERIOUS!”**

**“SOD OFF!”**

Hat Kid rounded a rocky corner and found a small cave with a campfire lit. There was red marking in back that red “MAFIA SABOTAGE” and there were a bunch of tally marks. Mustache Girl was there, tending to an unconscious Cloak Kid who had a bruise on his forehead, while he laid motionless on the sand beneath him. His staff was next to him.

“CLOAK!”

“Aw, peck…” Mustache Girl muttered. She reached out once she saw the boy shifting, moaning softly and rubbing his head.

Hat Kid was at his side first, shaking him first and helping him to sit up. “What did you do?!” said Hat Kid.

“Nothing!” said Mustache Girl. “He just got punched in the face by some Mafia?”

“Wha?” Cloak Kid muttered, rubbing the bruise. Hat Kid had him lean against the rocks behind him.

“Easy, kid. You took a pretty bad bump to the head, but you’re okay…” said Mustache Girl.

Hat Kid growled, but held Cloak Kid by his shoulders. “Are you okay?” She held up her fingers. “How many fingers am I holding up?”

“Three?” Hat Kid sighed in relief that he was alright but, then she huffed.

“You know better than this!” she scolded. “You just left without telling me? What if something even worse happened?” She almost shook him, her voice shrilling up from pure terror. “You wouldn’t be the only one hurt!”

After some time rubbing his head, Cloak Kid pushed her away. “I didn’t ask for your help! I’m fine…” he grumbled. He moved away the cloak covering his torso, and revealed a recovered Time Piece. “I thought you’d be happy. Guess I’m the only one!”

“I wouldn’t be if you were dead!” she shouted. “You were out here all night?!”

“I told you, I can take care of myself!”

Hat Kid growled. She reached into her pocket and pulled out his medicine. “Okay, then. Here! Take this medicine yourself!”

“Um… guys?” Mustache Girl tried to interject.

Cloak Kid took the bottle, poured it into the tiny cup, and brought it up to his lips. He knew the bitter taste that awaited him, but he couldn’t just do it. His mouth trembled, and so did the hand holding the stupid cup. He tossed the medicine onto the ground, stood with the Time Piece in one hand and his staff in the other, and walked past her while rubbing his sore forehead, while holding back tears.

“I wouldn’t have to take this, if it wasn’t for _YOU!”_ he shouted.

Hat Kid flinched, tears filling her eyes as she stared at the spilled medicine in the sand. She shivered.

“Yeah…” she stuttered. “I guess you’re right…”

Cloak Kid froze for a second. He stared onward into the ocean and then at the Time Piece. He saw his reflection within the shiny glass, before pulling up his hood. His eyes landed on Hat Kid, while he saw the same thing when he looked into her eyes every time.

“One to beam up…” he mumbled. And a ray of light took him back into the skies and onto his ship.

Hat Kid stood there, silently. She bent down to pick up his medicine, with her lip trembling. Why was she doing this to herself? He never appreciated anything she did for him!

“Um, he left this here, by the way,” Mustache Girl said, awkwardly.

The hatted child turned around, and in the red hooded girl’s hands was a ball of yarn that looked ready to sprint.

“W-Wait.” Hat Kid stepped forward slowly and took it from her. “Did he get this for… me?”

After securing the Time Piece in the vault, Cloak Kid wandered the ship for a while, an ice pack on his head. Hat Kid hadn’t come back, and neither had Mustache Girl. Rumbi had followed Cloak Kid around, sensing that he wasn’t himself.

Eventually, Cloak Kid just walked back into his room. He sat on his bed and began to sob.

A few hours later, Cloak Kid woke up laying on his bed, facing the ceiling, gazing at the many stars painted above. He felt exhausted, but he could only blame himself for staying up all night. His eyes were still heavy, puffed up from crying, and his throat was a bit dry. A small cough escaped his lips. He knew what it meant and sniffled. His eyes started drooping shut again.

A hand started shaking him and took the melted ice pack off his head then raised it. A terribly bitter taste entered his mouth, but Cloak Kid swallowed it, despite his shuddering. He knew who was there, and despite what had happened, was still there to force the medicine he needed down his throat. His head lolled to the side after he was let back down. He stifled a sob, trying to stop another crying fit, but tears still flowed down from his eyes.

“I’m sorry…” said Hat Kid.

Cloak Kid sniffled, while Hat Kid placed a new ice pack over the bruise. It was probably for the small fever he had, as well. 

I’m sorry, too…” he whispered. He felt his boots come off and a nice blanket over him. Then there was a gentle hand petting his hair.

“Sleep…” he heard, simply. And he did.


	5. Trust Understanding

The whole day was kind of a haze for Cloak Kid after he got back on the ship. He did remember his apology, but he was incredibly tired after that. Hat Kid came in every few hours to check on him, getting him to eat at least a little, before he fell asleep again. And, unknown to him, Mustache Girl was on the ship with them once again.

Hat Kid allowed her to do what she wanted and explore the ship, but after seeing everything she could on it for the fifteenth time, the red-hooded girl was getting bored.

Hat Kid had put Cloak Kid’s gift to good use, and got to work stitching. Despite telling Cloak Kid constantly to stick to a good sleep schedule, she had stayed up late working. She was almost done with her creation, when she heard her shipmate stirring a little. His eyes opened and his green eyes met with Hat Kid’s teal ones. After an afternoon of waking up and sleeping his mind was finally clear. He sat up slowly, the damp cloth on his head, falling into his palm.

“Wh-What time is it?” he said, trembling. His voice was small and shaky. Hat Kid gasped, when Cloak Kid swung his feet off the bed. She ran over and held him back, gently, but firmly.

“What are you doing?” Hat Kid said, using her inside voice. “Get back in bed.”

“Really?” Mustache Girl walked in, almost stomping on the floor beneath her.

“Huh?”

“We have Mafia to beat up! We can’t stop for you to play doctor. He looks fine.”

Hat Kid felt his forehead briefly. “Hattie…” Cloak Kid said. He moved forward, only for Hat Kid to hold him back.

“He’s better, but he’s still weak,” said Hat Kid.

“We need the hourglasses…” the boy pleaded.

“Yeah,” said Mustache Girl. “If we don’t get them back, it’s only matter of time before one of them is stupid and breaks one.”

The statement made Cloak Kid gasp. Hat Kid patted his hand when he shivered. She grabbed his cloak off the nearby chair and handed it to him.

“Now that the cannon is fixed, it’s the perfect time to strike at their base with an all out offensive!” The blonde continued. “We’ll take out their boss and defeat them once and for all!”

Hat Kid sighed, snapping the clip in place and pulling up the hood on her shipmate’s cloak. “Okay, that’s true. Let’s get a reading on our current status before we go.”

Cloak Kid looked at Mustache Girl. The image of her beating Mafiosos was still there, but it was increasingly violent. He could feel his heart beating in his chest. This wasn’t good. He had to tell Hat Kid, but he couldn’t with the red-hooded girl around.

Cloak Kid, much to Hat Kid’s annoyance, got out of bed and followed them out of his room. He was convinced to at least relax in the captain’s chair while they scoped out what they had to.

“Cloak, uh…” Hat Kid still felt shy to speak to him, since he was fully aware of himself now. “Can you tell me the status?”

The boy was typing on the computer and then he spoke after tucking his hands back under his cloak. “Mafia Town. It’s raining tonight. Population 739.”

“Tsk. There’s about to be one less after we’re done tonight,” said Mustache Girl.

Cloak Kid almost opened his mouth to speak, but Hat Kid held his arm and shook her head. Mustache Girl looked at the screen, seeing the ship’s giant scope zooming in on the Mafia Headquarters.

“With the cannon fixed, we can get up there.”

“Right,” said Cloak Kid. “If we drop from the ship straight there, they might see us.”

“Fine with me!” Mustache Girl grabbed one of the ship’s parachute’s, opened the door and made the jump. “Follow me, rebel squad.”

Cloak Kid almost got up, but Hat Kid got up. “Come on,” she said. “You really shouldn’t right now.” The boy growled at her, almost ready to yell. “No, you won’t be doing nothing!” Hat Kid said, holding her hands out gently. “I don’t know how it’s going to be down there, so I need you to use the ship to scan the inside of the building.”

The boy gazed down. He shook, shivering slightly at how cold he felt. The ship had picked up a Time Piece inside, so they had to have it. But, the rain was pouring hard, and it didn’t look like it was letting up soon. He had felt terrible all day, inside and out.

“Sit down, Cloak,” Hat Kid said, gently. And he did. Hat Kid gave him a pat on the head. “I’ll be back really soon with Time Piece, okay?”

Cloak Kid nodded, not even able to bring himself to speak.

Raincoat on, Hat Kid jumped down into Mafia Town, and used her umbrella to descend carefully. Past the clouds, she saw the rainy streets of the town. It was dark from the clouds, and a cold breeze was blowing through the city.

Hat Kid landed on the highest deck of the observatory and saw the cannon fixed. It looked almost as good as new. It was something that she admired when Cloak Kid was well enough to work on the ship, or anything really. The thought of him wouldn’t leave her mind. She looked up, seeing the structure held above by a water spout, and hopped into the cannon.

The girl shot up into the air, hanging onto her hat. She landed on the high up structure, where she saw a white building with many arched windows. There were golden statues of Mafioso’s at the front and on the walls on the front of the building. There was huge sign with a picture of some Mafia with some aquatic creatures, like a whale, an octopus, a squid and a swordfish, and at the bottom was a red sign with lights that said, “GO AWAY” and in tiny letters, she could see the word “please” in parentheses.

Mustache Girl was looking up at it, with a glare. Hat Kid, on the other hand, saw determination.

“You took your time!” she huffed. “Let’s go! It’s showtime, baby!”

The red hooded girl raced forward, with a happy little march. Hat Kid sighed, holding her umbrella close, along with the new hat she made from the yarn Cloak Kid gave her. Hopefully, she wouldn’t cause too much trouble. Despite her sneaking out Cloak Kid the other day, she was kind of fun to be around.

Cloak Kid had almost fallen asleep while working with some black fabric in the captain’s chair. It was some material that he had gathered while they were cruising around from the last planet. Suddenly, he heard a buzzer going off. This woke the boy almost immediately. 

“Huh?! Wha?” Cloak Kid sat up immediately, seeing a red light flaring at the control panel. The scanner which was focused on the Mafia headquarters, showing a blueprint-like layout, had picked up multiple heat signatures. The boy leaned forward, seeing that there were many gathered in a large space in one of the rooms. They were in rows, which could mean that it was just some kind of performance or movie, but what made the child gasp, was the huge signal it picked up. It was that of a Time Piece.

Cloak Kid could see Hat Kid and Mustache Girl’s heat signatures getting closer to it. The fact that it didn’t look like anyone was trying to stop them was alarming.

“No!” He stood up on his wobbly legs and headed towards his room for his water proof cloak. It was kind of like his normal cloak, but it was a bit longer and the outside had a shiny and smooth layer.

It was a trap! It had to be! He made the finishing touches on his new cloak and tucked it away on his person, before grabbing his cane.

With his rain cloak wrapped around him, he pulled up his hood, and took in the crisp chill of space before descending towards the planet below.

_“Mafia not take kindly to intruders!”_

_“Go home with you!”_

Hat Kid had lost sight of Mustache Girl when they entered the headquarters. The place looked like a casino. The floors were covered in red carpet with gentle warm lights hanging down from above. Dodging and and hopping onto some Mafia heads, she could see a seating area with green dice flooring and a slot machine section.

Several Mafia were lying around on the ground. It seemed to be a normal occurrence, because after that, most of them were just keeping their distance, acting like she wasn’t there.

Hat Kid was relieved, but she still couldn’t find Mustache Girl. No one was looking at her, which she thought she’d be relieved about, but it just made feel smaller than she already was for a girl her age. Cloak Kid was suddenly on her mind again and she made her way to the bar. The child sat down on a chair for a small break.

Then, to her surprise, a Mafioso who was working there came over. Her hand reached for her umbrella. She didn’t pull it out, but she just had it ready. She didn’t move, but felt her mouth open a little.

“What’s troubling you, little girl? Mafia not know what child drink. Whatever problem is, Mafia sure you can deal with it.”

Hat Kid thought that once herself. She had thought that many times, and wondered if anything would work out at this point.

“You look like tenacious type, not leave problem alone,” the Mafioso continued. “Other little girl run into kitchen, if you are looking for her. She look like unruly type. Keep eye on her.”

Hearing those words perked up the girl a little. There was no way she could give now. If anyone wrong got their hands on the Time Pieces, Cloak Kid would never forgive her. No! She couldn’t forgive herself. She still can’t now…

Meanwhile, up in the rafters Cooking Cat, was there, away at her stove when she heard something peculiar. It sounded like something hitting metal in the walls. Then there was a child-like scream and then a thud.

Cloak Kid opened his eyes to see two yellow eyes staring back at him. At first he flinched, but then he saw it was just Cooking Cat, the same feline he and Mustache Girl helped out the previous day.

“Hey… It’s you…” He sat up seeing that he had landed in a pile of fish. So that was the smell.

“Ugh…” The boy pinched his nose and stood briefly before sitting on the floor with his cane and wrapping his rain cloak around himself. “Sorry.”

“Not to worry, dear,” said Cooking Cat. “I’m just glad you made it without those Mafia bothering you. What brings you by anyway?”

Cloak Kid squeezed parts of his hair and clothes, letting rainwater drip off his person. “I’m uh, l-looking for someone. H-Have you s-seen a g-girl wearing a t-top hat?”

“So, that’s who made all that ruckus a little bit ago!” the cat said, hands on her hips. “I think I saw her pass in here below us.”

Cloak Kid gazed down from where they were and he breathed a sigh of relief to see her at the bar. She was drinking or anything, but she looked fine. His arms shook, though, and held his cloak tighter.

“Goodness, dearie! You’re shaking like a leaf! Let me get you something to warm you up! Nothing warms the heart like a good meal.”

The boy shook his head. “I-I don’t think I have t-time… The g-girl...”

“Well, we can still see her,” said Cooking Cat. She walked over to her stove and poured some soup in a bowl. “If she can toss those Mafia around like frisbees, then she’ll be fine for a few more minutes.”

Reluctantly, Cloak Kid took the bowl and the spoon. Surprisingly, it was pretty good. As he observed, he saw that the cat had a large supply of crustaceans, an octopus in a barrel and the pile of fish he had landed in earlier.

“Um, why are you cooking up here?” he said.

“The Mafia are terrible at cooking! But fear not, Cooking Cat is here!” the cat said, triumphantly. “I prepare the actual dinner up here, and swap the food before anybody eats the Mafia’s cooking. I’m fairly certain someone would die if they ate the Mafia-prepared food!”

The boy looked over to the bar, seeing the door to the kitchen. He gulped at how much black smoke was coming out of there.

“Why would you do that?” he said. “I’ve only been on this planet for a few days, and I can see that the Mafia pretty much take great pleasure in pushing people around and making them suffer.”

“Hold on. On this planet? Did you come from space, little boy?”

“Um… Yeah. ”

The cat’s eyes shined with excitement. “So that probably explains those shiny things falling from the sky. Why, that makes you a little alien! No wonder I haven’t seen you around these parts before. You’re… not at all what I expected.”

Cloak Kid’s eyes darted to left, a tiny blush appearing on his face while he slurped away at his soup. “What do you mean?”

“I sort of expected aliens to be green, and with a thirst for flesh…” Cooking Cat said, awkwardly. “But, I guess they come in all shapes and sizes. So, that little girl is your alien friend?”

The child had another spoonful ready to lift into his mouth when he set the utensil back down briefly. “Well, I wouldn’t put it like that. We’re shipmates. I look at maps, and do maintenance, and lots of other stuff… in the ship. While she thinks she can boss me around and make me stay in bed... and only lets me go out when I feel well… And the weather’s nice… And forces me to take my medicine.” The kid drank the rest of the broth and set the bowl down. “Thank-you.”

“Any time, dearie,” Cooking Cat said, taking the bowl back. “You look a lot warmer now. Not shivering. It sounds like, to me, though, that little girl is just looking out for you.”

Cloak Kid formed a pout, about to go on a rant, but hesitated. “We had a fight last night… and… I said some things to her, and I meant it, but… I feel…” He looked up at Cooking Cat, feeling silly for opening his heart out to someone he just met. “Bad… Despite that, she still took care of me that night.”

“Oh, dearie, anyone can get mad at someone who’s just trying to help,” said Cooking Cat. “I work here, so that no one dies from eating the Mafia-prepared food, and I don’t expect any appreciation. But, you on the other hand, have a choice to give her that appreciation, even if it seems like the little hat girl is doting a little.” Cloak Kid wiped his eyes, earning himself a little pat on the head. “Don’t you think that maybe - just maybe - you’ve been just a little too hard on her?”

“M-Maybe…” the boy muttered. “I…” He gasped. When he looked down from above the rafters, he saw that Hat Kid was gone.

Cloak Kid stood up, cane in his hand.

“W-Wait! Where did she go?!”

The only way forward was the theater was blocked by a Mafioso. Not wanting to draw any more attention than she already had, she slipped into the kitchen where the bartender told Hat Kid where Mustache Girl had snuck away to.

The girl almost gagged upon entering the kitchen. She checked under her boot and saw that she had stepped on a roach. The red checkered floor was filthy with dirt and grime, along with tons of different stains for spilled food and ingredients. The countertops were uncleaned, and full of unwashed dishes and food that was either old, burnt or raw… maybe all three! The walls were falling apart and the roof had some kind of mold growing on it. It smelled so bad, that Hat Kid was sure she could see black particles floating in the air of how awful it was in the kitchen. Either that, or she was on the verge of passing out from the mere smell.

The girl made her way to the back where she saw Mustache Girl, waving at her to come over. She was standing in front of a steel door.

“There you are!” she whispered. “Took you long enough to get here!”

“I lost you when those Mafia were attacking me!” said Hat Kid.

“I knew you could handle it! That’s why I snuck in here. This door can take us to where the Boss of the Mafia is.”

“Wait, you used me as a distraction to get in here?” said Hat Kid.

“Like I said!” Mustache Girl put her hands on her hips. “I knew you could handle it. You seem to have a better time taking on those losers than I do.”

“But-”

The red hooded girl rolled her eyes. “Look, we can chat later. There’s a vent in the back of the freezer that can sneak us into the theater. From the looks of it, he’s holding a big show tonight, so he’ll be distracted. Think you can find it?”

Hat Kid nodded. “Of course I can. If I can find a boy hiding from medicine time, I can find anything!”

Mustache Girl laughed, which made the hatted child smile. It was the first time she had heard a genuine laugh from her, along with a smile.

“Well, go ahead, kid. I’ll keep guard here until you find the entrance and make sure no one bothers you.”

“Okay…”

Hat Kid stepped through the metal door and was freed from the horrid smell of the kitchen. The only con she saw about the freezer was it was super cold, and there were a few roaches still crawling around. There were also tons of fish being stored in there.

Hat Kid resisted the urge to think of any fish puns. It’s tough, (hali)but she managed to hold them back.

The girl walked around a bit, until she found her way to the back and saw a stack of crates, but she could see cold air coming out. She climbed up the boxes and found a vent. It was irresponsibly left open, but that would just make things easier.

“Hey! What are you-! WAH!”

The girl gasped, looked back at the door and saw it slam shut. Hat Kid jumped down from atop the boxes. The door wouldn’t budge, but through the window, she could see Mustache Girl struggling violently while she was dragged away by Mafioso.

“HEY! LET HER GO!” Hat Kid shouted. Even when she pounded the door with her tiny fists, she knew that even if they heard her through the thick door, they wouldn’t listen. She looked back at the vent and put on her new hat. It was red and looked like a sports visor, but it had white feathery wings on it. She had dubbed it the Sprint Hat. With lightning speed she ran towards the vent and crawled through.

The passage was narrow and dark, but she had to press on. And it was also her only way out. The little girl got on her hands and knees and crawled through the vent. It was super dark.

“WAH!”

The metal underneath Hat Kid gave out and she landed in a lit room on something hard. Upon rubbing and opening her eyes she found herself on a pile of beautiful gold coins with stars on them. There were also many shiny jewels.

Walking on the white and black checkered floor, she passed through some plush red curtains that took her to a grand hallway. There was more treasure lying around and a red carpet leading up to a throne. There was a man in a chef’s outfit and a red coat sitting in it. Unlike most of the Mafia in the town, he actually had hair growing on his head.

The fact that no one was around to stop her was a bit alarming. But, all of her questions were set aside when she saw a Time Piece in his hand. Hat Kid rushed forward, when she suddenly heard footsteps… from above. When she turned around she swore almost saw a shadow leave the corner of her eye.

“Who’s there?” Hat Kid said, grabbing her umbrella. She turned back towards her goal only to see some Mafia charging at her. Luckily, she had some skill dealing with these losers at this point. Umbrella in hand, and her agility evading them she dealt with them with merely a few whacks.

Hat Kid made it to the throne and put her top hat back on. It looked like this man was the one in charge. He hopped down from his throne and stared down at the child before her.

“So... it is you! Ever you since you landed in Mafia Town, it’s been raining with these magical hourglasses.”

Hat Kid was eying the Time Piece the whole time, even as he presented it in front of her.

“W-well, I wouldn’t be here, if one of your own men didn’t break open my door!” she pouted. All of the men in the room were staring down at her. She shook a little. 

“I come in peace!” Hat Kid said, through her nerves. “These hourglasses are the only things that power the ship my companion and I ride in. Without them, we’re stranded here. Just give them back and we’ll stop bothering you!”

Suddenly, every single Mafioso started laughing out loud. The child felt so… small and insignificant.

_“What are you doing here, thief?”_

_“Why is she like that?”_

_“Did she get that out of the trash?”_

“You must be very lost, kid with the hat,” the Boss of the Mafia said. “You’re in the heart of our town, standing before the most powerful man you will ever witness. Everything you’ve ever owned belongs to me now. Including this hourglass.”

Hat Kid glared. He was wrong. She had once met someone far more powerful than he or anyone else could ever hope to be. The man must’ve caught her intention because he continued.

“If you want it, we’ll have to settle it in true Mafia style!”

The lights went out, and Hat Kid felt herself get picked up and moved someplace else.

“Lights!”

When the lights came on, Hat Kid found herself on a stage, with many Mafiosos watching from the auditorium.

“Action!” the Boss of the Mafia announced. “It is… showtime.”

The audience roared as the Mafia Boss pulled out two machetes and charged at her while spinning. With her Sprint Hat she jumped into the air with lightning speed and stomped on his head before landing behind him and giving him a few good whacks with her umbrella.

The man jumped to the edge of the stage whistling loudly. Sandbags fell from above the stage, making that hat-wearing child close her eyes, and dodge from being hit.

“SUPER CHARGE!” The boss spun again, electricity surging through his body as he sent out sparks towards her, but she managed to jump over them. She dashed towards him while he was dizzy and gave him another whack before being shoved away.

Suddenly, Hat Kid gasped. She saw Mustache Girl tied up, suspended in the air on a rope.

“I’ve got your friend captured,” the Mafia Boss taunted, “and soon, you will both perish!”

“Let go of me, you psycho!” the red hooded girl shouted, while the Mafia boss leapt to the other side of the stage.

Hat Kid’s jaw dropped. A bunch of Mafia gathered onto the stage, joining arms and elbows forming an actual ball. The boss was on the top and Hat Kid scrambled to get out of the way, but she only managed to find a small gap underneath to escape. Quick on her feet she rode the gap as it raised up to the top and knocked him off the ball, causing a huge collapse.

“WHOA!” Mustache Girl said, as the huge amount of people fell.

Hat Kid climbed her way out, tightly gripping her Sprint Hat, when she screamed. The child felt a bolt of electricity and fell to the ground. She fell near her top hat, and the Mafia Boss was standing over her.

“Hattie!”

The Mafia Boss jolted, seeing Cloak Kid jump down from the rafters and land in front of Hat Kid. She raised her head slightly, seeing that he was wearing a black cloak. It didn’t have a hood, but the collar and the ends of it were wavy, and shadow-like.

There was a yell, and a machete swung through the child.

“CLOOOOAK!” Hat Kid shrieked. Suddenly, she saw white.

Mustache Girl was stunned, staring in shock, while Hat Kid had screamed in terror. But suddenly, the child who was standing there had just vanished, like he was never there.

“What the?!” The Mafia Boss looked around and heard someone blowing raspberries. Cloak Kid was right behind him, and so was another, and another and another. The man ran forward, swinging at each of them but they were just shadowy clones.

“Hat Kid!” Mustache Girl yelled. Her voice snapped the girl from her shock. She swore she saw some kind of light. “Hit him already!”

But that didn’t matter right now. Wiping away her tears, she stood up and dashed towards the Mafia Boss, dizzy from Cloak Kid’s fake clones, and gave him one last good smack with her umbrella.

“IT… CANNOT BE!” And the man fell over. The girl raced forward and caught the hourglass he dropped before it hit grounded. She fell to her knees and breathed a sigh of relief.

Suddenly, the rope holding Mustache Girl lowered to the ground and once she was there she managed to wriggle free. The curtain was moved and the real Cloak Kid stepped forward, holding his staff.

“Anyone else?!” he boomed to the audience of Mafioso.

Having seen their leader fall, they rushed away, screaming in terror.

“CLOAK!” Hat Kid wiped her eyes and showed him the Time Piece. “I-I got it. S-See? I-I-”

Cloak Kid frowned at how Hat Kid was shaking, trembling with the hourglass in her hands. He felt even worse than when he felt sick last night.

“Hattie…” His word made her stop talking and fall into silence. Her teal colored eyes stared at him, waiting for an answer. As quietly, but calmly, he spoke again. “You okay?”

Hat Kid then smiled, tears entering her eyes again, when suddenly, a blur of red passed through them. The girl looked at her palms and then the two turned in the direction of where the red blur went. It was Mustache Girl, who had taken the hourglass and was just tossing it in the air like a toy. Cloak Kid let out an audible yelp, starting to shake, and this time it wasn’t from the cold.

“So what do things do, anyway?” the red hooded girl asked. “Are they some sort of rare collector’s item for nerds?”

Suddenly, the hourglass slipped from her hands. Just as Cloak Kid cried out, the hourglass shattered on the floor. And suddenly it felt like everything had just stopped for a moment.

“Are they some sort of rare c… wait, huh?” Mustache Girl swore she just accidentally dropped the hourglass and was just tossing it before it happened. When she stared at the ground, however, she saw that it was completely intact.

“Whoa, WHAT?!” she then yelled. She bent down and picked it up. “What.. did, uhm… did you guys know about this?”

Cloak Kid suddenly raced forward and snatched the hourglass from her hands. He clutched under his cloak and backed away. There was no way he was going to let her touch them again. It was already enough that Hat Kid had to hold them sometimes whenever he was sick, too busy, or incapacitated.

Hat Kid, sensing his shivering gave him a soft pat on the shoulder, and admittedly nodded. “Y-Yeah…” she said, softly.

Mustache Girl thought to herself and for the first time she had a genuine smile.

“This is crazy!” she exclaimed. “Do you realize what could even be done with these? We could make it so that Cloak never got punched in the face by the Mafia that one time! We could beat up the Mafia, travel back in time, and then beat them up again!” She rushed forward and put her arms around the two. “No, wait, we could make it so the Mafia never arrived on the island!” She gasped and suddenly exclaimed even louder. “Wait, wait, wait, even better! We could be crime-fighting time travellers!”

_“NO!”_

The shrill voice of terror came from Cloak Kid, who struggled out of the Mustache Girl’s grasp and back away, clutching the Time Piece gingerly in his palms. This was the one thing that Hattie, and especially himself were afraid of: other people finding out about the power of the Time Pieces.

“We can’t do that!” he said.

“Wait, what?!” Mustache Girl raised a brow. “This doesn’t make any sense!” Her eyes narrowed as she pointed an inquisitive finger at him. “You have _all_ of this power, and you’re not going to use it to fight evil?”

Hat Kid raced out and stepped in between them. “You have to listen to us!” she pleaded. “Yes, these things are powerful, but we can’t use them. It’s not right. To disrupt time-”

“But-”

“We can’t alter time!” Cloak Kid yelled. “No matter what you say! We’re not doing it and that’s _final!”_

The blonde then fell silent, her mouth hanging open. Hat Kid, seeing how harsh Cloak had sounded was quick to speak up.

“Listen, I know how you feel, but-”

Mustache Girl had already heard enough. She growled and stamped her foot, before turning her back to them and crossing her arms.

“If you’re not going to use them to fight evil... then I will!” Her voice was sinister with desire. She turned back around and made the two children flinch as she pointed an accusing finger at them. Cloak Kid couldn’t have held the Time Piece any tighter. “I’m not gonna let this island remain as Mafia Town! I’ll collect all the Time Pieces for myself! You _both_ have my word on it!”

“Wait!” Hat Kid said. But, the red hooded child had already hopped off the stage and dashed out of the auditorium. She there, confused.

“Well, goodness me! Thank goodness you’re both okay!”

Cloak Kid quickly tucked away the Time Piece, when Cooking Cat had managed to find her way into the auditorium.

“Oh, i-it’s you!” he said. “Did you follow me?”

“Well, of course I did, dearie! I was worried when you just ran off.” She looked past the boy to see the Mafia Boss out cold, nearby. “But, from the looks of it, you had this handled.”

Hat Kid was staring the whole time. “Um, who are you?”

“Never fear! Cooking Cat is here!”

Cloak Kid rubbed the back of his head. “I found her cooking the real food that the Mafia eat in the rafters.”

Hat Kid turned to her. “Um, we’re sorry for bothering you tonight, but the Mafia had something that we needed back. We have it now, but we need to go put it back on the ship.”

“That’s quite alright, dearie,” Cooking Cat said. “All I ask is that you let me come on your ship for a little while, if you don’t mind. I’ve always wondered what cooking on an alien stove is like.”

“U-Um…” The Cloak wearing child shivered a little, hands on the Time Piece. Hat Kid was quick to put a hand on his shoulder.

“Cloak, it’s okay. Look at her.” She gestured at the feline who gave a warm smile in return. “She wouldn’t hurt a fly.”

Cloak Kid was hesitant, but he nodded. Hat Kid smiled, but only a little. “C-Come on. We’ll take to our ship, but we have to be outside to do it.”

The group began to walk out. Hat Kid kept her hand on her shipmate’s shoulder, easing his fearful shaking. She knew what was scaring him, and she knew there wasn’t much she could do about it. What mattered now, was just getting back to the ship. Despite this, she couldn’t stop thinking about Mustache Girl.

For once, she had thought they were going to be friends.

But now, her first friend, since she and Cloak Kid found themselves wandering through space, had become their first enemy…


	6. The Rifts

The two children made it back onto their ship, with Cooking Cat as a guest. Since Cooking Cat was in the main room, Cloak Kid just raced into his bedroom and the doors were shut, the lights on it red.

_“If you’re not going to use them to fight evil... then I will!”_

Cloak Kid set the Time Piece down on his study table and sat down, staring at the sparkling hourglass. His head was resting on his arms.

_“I’ll collect all the Time Pieces for myself!”_

He hid his face in his arms, shivering at the memory. He wanted to cry out for his grandfather, even though he knew he would get no response in return. 

Cloak Kid tried to get some sleep, but the thought of Mustache Girl was keeping him awake. The shining hourglass was still on the desk. Eventually, he had enough and got up. Hopefully, Cooking Cat had gone to sleep by now, so he took the Time Piece and went towards the lobby.

The lights were out, seeing that no one was in the room. Cooking Cat was probably sleeping on Hat Kid’s pillow fort. Cloak Kid walked up to the giant safe, doing what he did to unlock it, and safely put the Time Piece away.

“I thought you were sleeping.”

Cloak Kid turned around and saw Hat Kid catching up with him, once the vault was closed. As much as he wanted to talk back, he didn’t have the energy right now. Cooking Cat’s words were still fresh in his head, too.

“Sorry…” he then said. “I couldn’t sleep.” He leaned against the wall, away from the safe and sank down to a sitting position. Hat Kid walked over quietly. “I can’t get my mind off Mustache Girl.”

“Oh.” Hat Kid sat down next to him.

“Do you think she’ll find any Time Pieces?”

“Well, she doesn’t have the ship, which picks up where Time Pieces are.”

“But… there’s still a chance she could find one…” Cloak Kid gathered his normal cloak around himself. “If she finds one…”

“We’ll stop her… She doesn’t know how to use one properly.”

“None of us do. No one should use them to alter time.” He looked out the window, seeing the endless vastness of space. “That’s why my grandfather had to keep them hidden. He wanted to learn all their secrets… without endangering everyone of their existence.”

“Then… maybe the fact that she doesn’t know how to use them is a good thing.” Hat Kid then smiled. “If she finds one, she won’t be able to do anything with it.”

Cloak Kid formed a fist while gripping his cloak. “I guess…”

“There’s no point in getting worried, if you’re tired.” Hat Kid patted his arm. Then she felt him leaning on her shoulder. “It’s gonna be okay… even though… I… We’ll do our best to get them back, okay. I won’t leave your side.”

Hat Kid turned and saw that her shipmate had fallen fast asleep leaning against her. His legs were stretched out and his head was leaning on her shoulder. The girl sighed, held him close and stared out into space until she fell asleep, as well.

“Good morning, dearies!”

Hat Kid was woken up first by Cooking Cat. Something smelled good, and was coming from the kitchen.

“Mmm, sorry,” said Hat Kid. “Cloak couldn’t sleep, so I stayed out here with him.”

“Why are you worried? It’s your ship, isn’t it? I thought I’d thank your friend for helping me the other day by giving you a nice breakfast.” She put a paw on her chin to think. “Y’know, I kind of thought an alien stove would be a little more… technologically advanced.”

Hat Kid almost let out a huff. Why was that sometimes the assumption of some people who have never left their planet before?

The girl gently shook Cloak Kid awake, and upon feeling that he had no fever today, she breathed a sigh of relief that the storm hadn’t affected him. After softly rubbing his eyes, Cloak was pulled by Hat Kid into the kitchen and guided into a chair. He put his head down on his arms briefly, resting his eyes, and let Hat Kid pet his hair with her hand. The boy sighed, but couldn’t help but smile at the feeling.

Once Cloak Kid was awake enough he lit up with a smile at what Cooking Cat had made for them: They were pancakes. Hat Kid was cheering and had a huge smile on her face as she chowed down with some syrup. They would never be as good as her favorite snack, which was cookies, but they were a close second.

“Thank-you, Cooking Cat,” said Cloak Kid.

“Oh, just call me Cookie, dearie,” the cat quipped. “And, anytime for the kid who helped me.”

The boy reached for the glass of milk that was out for him. Just as he opened his mouth to drink it, Hat Kid grabbed his wrist.

“Not yet,” Hat Kid quipped, holding a small spoonful of medicine. She sighed and held his hand, sensing that he was shifting in his chair, and Hat Kid really didn’t want to play hide and seek like this today. Cloak Kid nodded, and shut his eyes tightly, letting the bitter medicine enter his mouth. “Thank-you…” Hat Kid chimed, patting the top of his head, as he shivered from the taste and swallowed. Her shipmate reached for the milk quickly and chugged it immediately.

Then, he almost spit it out, when the room started flashing with red lights. Hat Kid gasped. “What is that?”

Cloak Kid was staring up. He had heard this sound once before, but he only was told about this, only after his grandfather had dealt with it.

“To the bridge!” the boy stood up and dashed out of the room. Staff in hand, he vaulted over the railing and landed on his feet on the first floor of the bridge, jumped over Rumbi who spun around trying to avoid crashing into him and landed in the pillow covered swivel chair. Hat Kid was quick to catch up with him. She had almost forgotten how much energy her shipmate had when he was feeling well.

Cloak Kid switched off the alarm, giving the ship a relieving silence, but as he typed away, the screen showed him what was going on. There were powerful, shaky signals from two parts of Mafia Town.

“What’s going on?” said Hat Kid.

“This is bad,” said Cloak Kid. “Time rifts. Two of them.”

“Time rift?!” Hat Kid turned away from the screen and to her shipmate. “Are we in danger?”

“Not now. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his grandfather’s book. After opening it, he started flipping through pages. It might have been the landing, but we need to take care of them as soon as possible. If we don’t it could cause some real damage to the fabric of time.”

Hat Kid gasped. She shivered slightly, but then the sound of the system whirring snapped her out of it. Cloak Kid snatched two photos that came from the small slot on the side of the control panel. They looked like they were some shot taken from somewhere in Mafia Town. Both of them had an ominous blue ball of light at the center of it. Those had to be the Time Rifts.

“Grandfather told me that we had to find these,” said Cloak Kid. “Touching them will take us to the rift. We have to find the source of it and break it to stop the rift.”

“So… I’ll go to one… and you’ll get the other?” said Hat Kid.

Cloak Kid grimaced. He then looked over at the girl, looking into her eyes and saw an image of her guarding him and the Time Pieces. The boy sighed.

“It…” He held the two photos and remembered what Cooking Cat said to him last night. “It’s risky… but we need to stop these Time Rifts before they get too unstable. I’ll take one.” She held out one photo to Hat Kid. “You get the other one.”

Hat Kid smirked. She held her umbrella on her back and nodded. “I got this!”

Once they were in town, Hat Kid and Cloak Kid went in their separate directions. Hat Kid just had to find a match in the photo she took. So far she could see water, and since the ocean was being pulled into the town to keep the Mafia HQ up where it is, all she had to do was look in the streams.

The girl eventually saw a blue glowing ball of light, radiating with bolt like electricity. What confused her now was, what was she supposed to do. It was higher up than she had hoped, but all Hat Kid to do was jump. So, she did, leaping into the air and touching it with her hand.

Suddenly, she couldn’t move. The girl was frozen in midair, along with the stream beneath her, the clouds above her and the seagulls flying overhead. The timerift began to shine, engulfing everything in a white light.

When Hat Kid opened her eyes, she found herself standing on a white platform jeweled with a blue crystal. There were tons more up ahead, and she was standing next to a lamp post. Around her, she saw nothing of Mafia Town, but it was blue and in the distance she could make out the faint silhouettes of buildings, many of them were giant clock towers. The girl laid a hand on her chest. It was like a taste of home.

So this is the inside of Time Rift… the girl thought. Hat Kid adjusted her hat, and made her way towards the familiar light of Time Piece in the distance.

She jumped her way up platforms that would jut out from a white wall only briefly, so Hat Kid had to time her jumps carefully. It wasn’t too hard. The only part that made her nervous was when she made it to the top and had to balance on a narrow stretch of a path forward. Then up ahead, where the girl could see the light shining, the path ahead was rotating constantly. The girl caught her breath, daring to brave what was ahead. The Time Piece had to be secured, no matter the cost.

The hat-wearing child ran across, making sure to hop really quick when the surface was turning and she was about to slip. Then she made it to the other side onto some gear shaped ground and forced herself up with her umbrella, swaying as it spun. She climbed making her way to the top and jumped for the Time Piece, grabbing it as tight as she could. The hourglass shimmered and sparkled, taking Hat Kid back out of the Time Rift and back to Mafia Town.

The photo in Cloak Kid’s hand led him to a dim place. It was Mafia Town Bazaar sequestered beneath the market in the shadows. As much as the boy expected that a bazaar would have unique items, this place wasn’t really. Who would only sell cheese wedges and fish. It was already typical, considering this island was known for its seafood, no matter how notorious subpar it was.

“What are you doing here?”

Cloak Kid tightened his grip on his staff. He then saw Mustache Girl hiding behind one of the barrels by one of the shops.

“Get lost, blondie,” the boy grumbled, continuing his walk. That’s when Mustache Girl came out and started following him.

“So, I’m not friendly with the Hat Brat anymore, and your true colors show!” she said. “You’re just as rude and selfish as her!”

“True colors?” the boy turned around just in time to stop Mustache Girl from smacking him by grabbing her wrist. “I’ve seen your true colors since day one!”

“Huh?”

“My cloak, idiot!” Cloak Kid hissed. “I can see the true emotions and desires of one’s heart.” Upon looking into Mustache Girl eyes, he still saw the same thing. “You don’t crave justice! You crave revenge!” Upon reaching the end of the market, he saw a tunnel that looked like it was just getting started on being dug into, but what caught his attention was the ball of light. It was the time rift. “Now, get lost!” He pushed the girl away and she fell on the floor.

Mustache Girl sat up seeing Cloak Kid walking away from him. She blinked vaguely being reminded of a similar image of people walking away from her.

Cloak Kid approached the Time Rift and jumped up to touch it. Just as he did, and time froze in its place, he felt Mustache Girl grabbing the tip of his cloak as everything turned white.

The two found themselves in a Time Rift. The path ahead was kind of similar to what Hat Kid experienced. Mustache Girl looked around, confused, eyes looking up and around.

“Where the peck are we?!” she yelled.

“What did you say?” said Cloak Kid. “Peck?”

“Where are we?!” the red hooded girl shouted.

“None of your business. I’ll get us out so wait here.” He started walking ahead, but Mustache Girl was never one to listen to people, especially her enemy.

Cloak Kid hopped forward, and up a steep slope. All of the platforms were white with blue crystals, like before. Hearing footsteps, he noticed Mustache Girl following him.

“What are you doing?” he hissed. “You’ll-”

Suddenly, the slope spun around to face the other way, but it was so sudden that the two lost their balance, and went tumbling down to the bottom where another platform awaited them. Fearing falling off the edge, the boy pulled out his staff and managed to hook to a nearby streetlamp, stopping his rolling once he was at the bottom.

Upon seeing Mustache Girl rolling down too, he reached out and grabbed her hand, stopping her movement. After a few deep breaths, Cloak Kid stood up and kept walking. Ahead were a few square panels to jump on.

“What was that?!” Mustache Girl said. “Why did you save me? I thought you hated my guts!”

“I do!” the boy hissed. “Does that mean I’ll let you die?” He huffed and started jumping over the gaps. Mustache Girl rolled her eyes.

He made it to the other side and grabbed the Time Piece. Everything turned white and then they were back at Mafia Town’s bazaar.

Mustache Girl looked around, but saw no sign of the boy anywhere.

“Mustache brat!” a Mafioso yelled. “Get her!”

This was nothing new to the red hooded girl. All of them tried to jump on her, but she jumped first, hopping off their backs and out of the bazaar. Once out by the plaza, where the giant crater was.

“One to beam up…” Cloak Kid muttered.

Just as light shined down on him on Mustache Girl managed to catch up. He tucked the Time Piece away under his cloak.

“What was that?!” she said. “Why did you save me?”

Cloak Kid looked up towards the sky as he was lifted off the ground.

“I hate you, but that doesn’t mean I want you to die,” he said simply. “Now, go away.”

Mustache Girl looked up as he ascended towards space where the ship was. To her, this was a foriegn concept. And to her, she thought Cloak Kid was an idiot.

So why did she feel a small bit of happiness?


	7. Can't Take the Heat

Cloak Kid wondered if he should tell Hat Kid what happened when he went after that Time Piece. He was worried when she had followed him into the Time Rift, but he knew better than to leave people in one, regardless of what a threat they are.

The boy laid in his bed. It was the next morning, and while he had a decent night’s sleep, Mustache Girl was still weighing heavily in his mind. If he were still on his home planet, his grandfather would have done something about her. What she was planning and trying to do was unacceptable, but he wasn’t with him anymore and neither were the proper authorities. He always knew what to do, but Cloak Kid didn’t.

Brushing out his hair from the bedhead he achieved while sleeping, Cloak Kid made his way towards the kitchen and saw what Cooking Cat had made him for breakfast today. Unfortunately, this would be her last day visiting, since she had to go back and make sure no one died eating the Mafia’s cooking. Regardless, he was still happy to have her around. It looked like Hat Kid let the kind cat in on his regular routine, though.

“Alright, dearie.” Cooking Cat walked up to him with his medicine. “No fuss, now.” The boy was about to put up a protest, when he saw a fresh chocolate chip cookie in her hand. Eyes lighting up, he sat still and downed the medicine quickly. After that he looked at the kitty with his eyes staring at her and his lip trembling. With a smile, Cooking Cat gave the boy his reward, and he was allowed seconds.

“Thanks, Cooking Cat!” The boy suddenly covered his mouth, remembering it was rude to talk with his mouth full. “Where’s Hattie?”

“Oh, yeah… I think she was down in your ship’s laboratory. Well, I think the little dearie called it the science lab.”

“Wait…” Cloak Kid suddenly, flinched. “The science lab?”

There was a girlish scream, followed by a loud explosion.

“Ah, no!” He immediately leaped out of the chair and started racing out of the kitchen. “HATTIE!”

Cloak Kid ran into the ship’s engine room which led into another hallway. That’s where he ran into the science lab and found Hat Kid laughing to herself, while she had put out a fire on one of the tables.

“Hattie, what are you doing?”

“I was trying to cook up mad concoctions!” Hat Kid exclaimed. “Imagine if we had these while we were fighting the Mafia?”

“Ummm… That could be dangerous…” said Cloak Kid. He poked both his index fingers together nervously.

“It’ll scare them away, hopefully. I took some of their TNT to make these smaller explosion potions!”

“I don’t think they’re scared of explosions, considering they were throwing an avalanche of TNT at you.”

“But you don’t know what else could be out there?” She stood on her tippy toes, with her hands behind her back. “If something sneaks on us, whamo! I’ll blow them up and save us!”

With Hat Kid’s smile and the confidence in her voice, Cloak Kid could tell that she was at least trying. It did sound useful, even if a bit noisy… and dangerous.

“Maybe… you can make a new hat?” he said.

Hat Kid gasped, her teal colored eyes sparkling with inspiration. “Yes! Yes! I’m gonna go find some yarn!”

For once, as Hat Kid zipped past him with ideas sparking her head, Cloak Kid actually laughed a little. The girl ran into the hallway, and upon hearing his soft laughter, she stopped once she was out of view, and smiled herself before she continued towards her room.

Cloak Kid made his way back to the ship's lobby and hopped into the captain’s chair. The ship detected another Time Piece at Mafia HQ. He recalibrated the ship’s sensors several times, because every time the ship was revealing a weird status on Mafia Town. So with a press of a button he sent some tiny drones to take a closer look.

The boy’s jaw dropped at what he saw.

Mafia Town was flooded with lava! The once beautiful ocean now casted a horizon of lava. Half the city was submerged and most of the Mafia had evacuated to the town’s observatory.

All the while, Cloak Kid had gone into a full state of panic. His chest felt tight making him grab it, and he sucked in painful gasps of air.

“No… She… The Time Pieces…” Cloak Kid stood up quickly, only to fall forward on the control panel. “NO! NO…” He was shaking, unable to avert his eyes, seeing a sea of flames and still able to hear screams. He saw blackened water, broken shards and a knife in the air. He heard a voice, and then hands were on him, lowering him to the floor.

“Cloak! Cloak! It’s me!”

“M-Mafia… T-Town… T-Time Pieces…” Cloak Kid shrieked, as tears streamed down his eyes. He found himself struggling in someone’s grasp. “SHE’S GOING TO-” A hand touched his face and his head was turned to meet with Hat Kid’s. Rumbi had also zoomed over but was spinning in circles, unsure of what to do.

“Cloak! Cloak! It’s not the Time Pieces.” Hat Kid yelled through his fearful screaming and squirming. She pointed at the image before them. “Look! The lava’s coming out of those weird giant faucets.”

Cloak Kid couldn’t believe it until he forced himself to look, and when he did, he went completely still. Somehow, Hat Kid was right. Why someone would have lava faucets was beyond him, but that didn’t matter right now. He barely realized how tightly he was clutching his shipmate. More tears were racing down from his eyes.

“It’s okay. Just breathe,” Hat Kid said. She yelped upon feeling Cloak Kid grip her tighter, his heavy breathing dissolving into painful sobbing. He hid his face away from the image of Mafia Town, with Hat Kid holding him gently and rubbing his back. She pulled up his hood, holding back a gasp as soon as he started coughing and shaking like a leaf, muttering for his grandfather between hiccups of air.

Hat Kid heard enough and helped the boy onto his feet. Shaking and coughing, Cloak Kid couldn’t prevent the girl from guiding him back to his room and laying him down on his bed, making sure he was snug in his cloak before pulling the blanket over him. He struggled under the sheets covering his mouth as he coughed.

Slowly, Cloak Kid’s coughing fit subsided and he laid on his side exhausted. Hat Kid grabbed a rag and wiped the sweat from his forehead as he breathed deeply, still shaking and whimpering.

“Hattie… The Time Piece…” He covered his mouth and let out a small cough. “Mafia Town… I need…”

“Shh… Look at you. You need to rest,” said Hat Kid. “You’ve stressed yourself out too much.”

“NO!” he cried, grabbing her wrists. “I need… to get it.” As much as he pleaded, he knew she wouldn’t let him go, and even if he made it out of the ship, he knew he wouldn’t get far. He teared up, shivering. His head sank down into the blankets below him. Even now, he felt so helpless. “Please…”

“I’m gonna get it,” Hat Kid then said, pushing him back against the pillows. Cloak Kid’s whimpers were heard once again. “Shhh… I’ll be fine. Just relax, and I’ll be back in a jiffy. Okay?” Hat Kid stayed with him, patting his head and offering soothing words to calm him down. Right before she turned to leave, Cloak Kid grabbed her wrist again.

“W-Wait…” Cloak Kid sniffled a bit, fresh tears leaving his eyes. “B-Be careful. Please.”

Hat Kid gasped, shocked to hear those words come out from his mouth, especially to her. She nodded. “I will.” And the boy let her go. She dimmed the lights before she left, the star patterns on the roof of his bedroom started glowing, knowing they would help calm him down.

Rumbi had made their way over to Hat Kid. They nudged her foot softly, pink glowing eyes gazing up at her and soft booping noises were heard.

“Take care of him for me, okay Rumbi?”

The girl, umbrella in hand ran towards the lobby. The drones had returned to the ship, so now Hat Kid had to find the Time Piece and figure out what the heck was going on. She opened the newly repaired hatch and made the jump.

“Here goes nothing!” she said.

_Mafia Town_

  


_Population: Lots of fried Mafia_

  


_Mission: Cool things down!_

  


_Perspiration: Yes, unfortunately_

Hat Kid once again plummeted into Mafia Town. She knew that given the way Mafia Town was, it’d be hot, she just didn’t anticipate how hot it would be. The magnitude of how much lava had flooded the place could only truly be seen in person. The roads were completely impassible, and going to the lower parts of the island was impossible.

The girl landed on the observatory, where a lot of the Mafia had gathered. Hat Kid could only guess that the rest were up in their base.

The heat, along with the lava and the fact that several of the buildings were on fire shook her a bit. She remembered the images of flames and shattered glass, but she pulled down a gulp and walked into the crowd of Mafioso. This time, it wasn’t to fight them, but to figure out what was going on, and it looked like they had the same idea. The man that Hat Kid chased through the town as an “slimey space alien” was there.

“Look at mess! This is terrible!” he said. “Someone turn on all faucets in Mafia Town… same faucets that control the town volcano! Was it you, child?”

Hat Kid shook her head. “No…” she said, shyly. It was awkward to have a normal conversation with an enemy.

“Mafia think he saw a little girl turn on all faucets…” the man responded.

The girl gasped. She had returned to the spaceship once she had gotten a Time Piece yesterday, and she and Cloak Kid were there the rest of the day.

That would mean… Mustache Girl turned them on! To what end? If this kept going the whole town would be burned to a crisp.

“So… what do we do?” said Hat Kid.

“Maybe if you close all faucets, water start flowing again?”

Hat Kid looked over the railing, seeing the lava land before her. It looked dangerous, but she couldn’t look for the Time Piece if there was lava everywhere. Plus, she could see a few places that were within jumping distance.

“Okay… I’ll make it quick,” she said, sighing. After all, she had seen worse…

Hat Kid didn’t have to go far to find the first faucet. It was hanging off the side of a building with a blue roof that was just below the observatory. The problem was that it was over a lava flooded road. So she was careful, climbing down, so that she landed on top of it. It looked like a faucet one would hook up to a hose, except way bigger.

The girl tried pushing it with her palms, but not only was the metal hot from the heat, it was super heavy. Hat Kid yelped, tucking her burned palms near herself. She pushed with her back, but it didn’t budge. Already, she was starting to feel the heat of this place wearing her down. Then she screamed, giving it a good whack with her umbrella and surprisingly it worked. The key spun around until it was locked shut and the lava stopped flowing.

“Phew…” Hat Kid said, wiping her brow. “That’s one…”

The next one was by the beach. Hat Kid had made her way there by climbing down the beach’s viewing platform. Unfortunately, the beach was covered completely in lava. Hat Kid recalled Cloak Kid telling her that this was where he woke up when they were flung from their spaceship. It had only been about a week since then, but it already felt like they’ve been on this planet for a month. Hat Kid pushed through the heat tiring her and closed the next faucet.

Hat Kid was already used to jumping across buildings to sneaking around all the time, so this was almost nothing new to her. The next one was hanging off the bell tower where she had first met Mustache Girl. She tip-toed on the one of the many lines of blue and white streamers hanging around the city.

Suddenly, a burnt fish skeleton jumped near her before going back into the lava. The girl yelped, only managing to get a slight burn on her arm, and landing on the line and clinging on. She saw the fish… or what was left of it, fall back into the lava. Shaking she scooted closer to the clock tower, praying that the line would give away before she made it.

Once she was in the bell tower, she collapsed on her back and caught her breath. She hated how sweaty she was feeling. It was on her palms and her forehead and around it from the top hat she was wearing, and her cape wasn’t helping.

It looked like Mustache Girl had been here a lot, seeing that there were snacks and rations still left lying around. After a brief break, Hat Kid put her back on and stood. Then her foot stepped on something. It was a map of Mafia Town and it was pointing to where all the faucets were. Hat Kid had suspicions, but this just confirmed it. She tucked the map away in her hat and climbed down to turn off the next lava faucet.

The next one was by the docks. Hat Kid didn’t find climbing too hard, but it was getting difficult to concentrate from all the heat. Climbing down rocks while constantly wiping away sweat was starting to get her face dirty, along with her clothes when she wiped her palms on them. At least she made it. There were only two left.

The fifth one was just off the shore on the back of the island. This was the closest Hat Kid had ever gotten to the lava, and it was very hot. The heat had made her tired, but seeing how close she was to it this time, woke her up enough to make her focus. There were some conveniently placed platforms for her to jump on. She pictured the lava as just gaps between buildings to cross, controlled her breathing, and remember not to let the adrenaline get to her.

The sixth and final one was at the lighthouse. It was completely surrounded by lava, but seeing the streamers hung near it just above gave Hat Kid a dangerous idea to tightrope across it, dodging burnt fish after burnt fist. She shrieked when one jumped and shivered, fearing that another would jump.

Finally she leaped to the last one. Clinging onto it with her sweaty palms. Standing on her tired legs, she put all her might into whacking the last faucet and it was done.

Water began to shoot up from the volcano instead of lava again. It would probably be some time before everything was back to normal, but Hat Kid was happy. She looked up, letting small water droplets land on her face, enjoying while she made her way back to the observatory.

Everyone had gone, but the cannon was sitting there open for her. Once she was launched to the front of Mafia HQ, she was shocked to see a whole banquet laid out for her, along with Mafia cheering her arrival. The quirky Mafioso walked up to her with a smile on his face.

“You did it!” he exclaimed. “Small child saved Mafia Town! Now Mafia no longer need to eat lava for breakfast… amazing! Please, take this as trophy. You are truly the hero of Mafia Town!”

Hat Kid’s heart skipped a beat at the word “hero.” She walked up to the main table where the Mafia willingly handed over the Time Piece to her. She was met with cheers and praise. People were clapping for her, and her alone. The girl could only manage a small smile. As she gazed into the shiny glass of the Time Piece it faded.

“Thank-you…” she spoke softly. “But I’m no hero…”

Hat Kid returned to the ship, feeling sweaty, gross and mostly dizzy and exhausted. Luckily, the spaceship’s air conditioner was already there doing wonders for her. She hobbled in, grabbing on to the ship’s control panel and other things and made her way towards Cloak Kid’s room.

Rumbi was just cleaning up the floors in Cloak Kid’s room. The lights were still dimmed, but Hat Kid was relieved to hear it was quiet. She used her wobbly legs and made her way over to her shipmate’s bedside where he laid fast asleep, still looking a bit disheveled and weak. Once the Time Piece was safely on the nightstand she sank down to a sitting position on the floor with a sigh. She stared up at the stars, not realizing how tired she was until she was already asleep.

“H-Hattie? H-Hattie!”

Hat Kid groaned softly, and flinched upon feeling something cold on her face. She opened her eyes and found Cloak Kid kneeling in front of her, wiping her dirty face with a cool rag.

“A-Are… Are you okay?” he said.

“Mafia Town… lava…” Hat Kid mumbled. She stared, seeing how he was still trembling and a bit shaky. She flinched upon feeling the water on her arm. Her sleeve had been rolled up.

“You got b-burned, so… hang on…” Cloak Kid stuttered. Once the wound was clean, he wrapped it in bandages. “Th-There…”

Hat Kid rolled her sleeve back down. She never thought Cloak Kid could be so sweet and gentle. She knew he was still fragile from earlier, but she greatly liked this version of him. Upon hearing him stifle a cough she lifted her patched up arm and put it on his shoulder, feeling him still trembling.

“You should get back in bed,” said Hat Kid. Cloak Kid ran his hands up and down his own arms as he held himself. He was either cold, nervous, or still exhausted. She wasn’t sure.

“Will you stay?” he asked softly. With a smile, the girl nodded and let her shipmate help her up and onto the bed. Off the nightstand, Cloak Kid gave her a glass of water he had gotten for her before she woke up. Upon seeing it, Hat Kid realized how thirsty she was and drank it without hesitation. She also saw that the Time Piece still wasn’t put away yet. When she got on the bed, she did see that Cloak Kid had sat down, but was still staring at it.

“You can put it away later, okay?” She helped unclip his cloak and laid him down against the pillows. She got up briefly to lock the door for Cloak Kid to feel secure about the Time Piece still not being in the vault.

Once her boots were off, she set her hat down by the nightstand and crawled into the bed with Cloak Kid. He had stayed where he was, his eyes fixated on the stars still glowing above them. His eyes were drooping shut slowly. Hat Kid pulled him into her arms, and for once, he didn’t struggle or squirm. He smiled while Hat Kid brushed his hair, feeling himself relax.

“Get some sleep,” Hat Kid said. “I’ll be here when you wake up. I promise.”

Hat Kid’s only reply was a soft mumble. She pulled the blanket over the both of them and laid down, drifting off. Despite being burned, tired, and probably smelling like an old sock draw, the Time Piece was safe and Cloak Kid was also safe and where she could watch him.

Cloak Kid opened his eyes a bit, seeing his shipmate had fallen asleep so easily. If anything, he could at least admire her dedication. Despite everything they had been through, she was trying, at the very least… and she was all that he had now. Since she was safe, he could finally relax. So with that, he closed his eyes once more.


	8. Mafia's Memory Lane

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After recovering from yesterday's events, Hat Kid and Cloak Kid find themselves facing yet another Time Rift. This one, however was different, and they end up seeing the past of Mafia Town... and piecing together the past of a certain red-hooded girl.

The lights in the room began to turn up in brightness the next morning. The ship was quiet with machines and systems still going. Roombi had booted up for the day and started zooming across the carpets cleaning them up.

Hat Kid was the first to wake. She found her shipmate curled up next her, his breathing soft and steady. He didn’t seem to be having any nightmares and he had no fever upon placing a hand on his forehead.

The girl breathed a sigh of relief, wiping her eyes from a fresh batch of tears, remembering what had happened. Cloak Kid hadn’t been that way since they first found themselves travelling on the ship together. He was distraught, the days were filled with crying, sniffling and coughing, while the nights were filled with more crying and nightmares. Hat Kid feared he would’ve gone back to his habits, but was relieved that he hadn’t… at least not now. After all, she had nightmares of her own to deal with.

Hat Kid simply pet his hair a bit and left him to rest some more while she got up. The Time Piece was still on the nightstand, still able to sparkle and shine, without needing to be wiped or dusted. She wandered out into the kitchen and decided to make something simple. She just slapped some jelly on some toast and made some jelly sandwiches. She got them on a tray, along with some juice and started making her way back towards Cloak Kid’s room.

The boy hadn’t moved an inch since Hat Kid left him. Hat Kid had to move a few empty medicine bottles to set the tray down on the nightstand. Then, she made her way to Cloak Kid’s sleeping form.  
`  
“Hey…” she said, softly. Rubbing his back, she managed to get her shipmate to wake up. He responded with soft mumbles, before rolling onto his back. Just to double check, Hat Kid felt his forehead again and smiled, as he opened his eyes halfway, still full of sleepiness. “Are you hungry?”

“You didn’t…” Cloak Kid sat up slowly, his body still a bit shaky. “You didn’t have to…” he spoke, softly.

“Don’t be silly!” Hat Kid chirped. She handed Cloak Kid his plate and then took her own. The girl was happy to see her shipmate digging in already, and she certainly wasn’t surprised to see that he finished first. When Hat Kid finished her toasted jelly sandwich, she saw him spacing out, but before she could speak, he already did.

“I’m sorry…” he said, softly.

“What are you sorry for?” said Hat Kid.

“For making you do all of this.”

Hat Kid smiled. “Whether you can do it alone or not, I want to do this.”

Cloak Kid pulled down a gulp. “You… want to take care of me?”

“I _want_ to help you. That’s what I’ve been doing.” Hat Kid looked down at her feet. Remembering how he clung to her desperately yesterday made her feel the sting of tears forming again in her eyes. “It’s what I owe you… and so much more…”

“Hattie…”

The lights started flashing again, along with a siren. It wasn’t blue like last time. The lights were pink.

“No…” Cloak Kid leapt out of bed and dashed towards the lobby. Hat Kid quickly followed him, but not before grabbing his bottle of medicine.

The captain’s chair spun as he leapt into and he caught the control panel while the chair was still sideways. After shutting off the alarm, the scanners picked up yet another Time Rift.

It was pink.

“Pink?” Hat Kid caught up just in time. “What does pink mean?”

“This is a Time Rift, but it’s a little more unstable,” Cloak Kid explained. “We have to get to it so-”

Cloak Kid was interrupted when a spoonful of medicine entered his mouth. Hat Kid smiled briefly before turning back to the screen. Normally, he’d be mad, but after forcing himself to swallow, and Hat Kid rubbing his back as he shuddered, held back his daily anger and focused on what was important.

“Now, we can go get it together!” Hat Kid chimed. Cloak Kid gasped when he felt something on his back, but smiled to see that it was just the girl putting on his cloak. He reached over and snapped the clip into place. Then, he nodded.

“Okay, let me put the other Time Piece away first.”

The two descended together towards Mafia Town once again. Since they had been there quite a few times at this point, they thought it wouldn’t be too hard to find their way around without a guide. Mustache Girl had told them a few things, but since they had gone their separate ways, they were on their own.

Hat Kid used her umbrella and landed safely. Cloak Kid’s staff hat a small hatch open that led out a parachute for him to safely float down. Luckily, it folded back into the thing with a push of a button. They found themselves atop the observatory.

“It’s on a beach,” Cloak Kid said, glossing over the photo the ship printed out. Hat Kid was over in an instant to take a look. “Actually, it looks like the place where I woke up when we first got here.”

“Oh. Then, you probably know where it is, right?”

Cloak Kid tried not to think about their first day… yesterday, and that horrible day…

“Yeah… It’s not far from here. A long way down, though. Let’s just try to avoid the Mafia the best we can.”

“Oh. We don’t have to. They’re happy because I stopped the lava.”

“Really?”

Hat Kid nodded. “Yeah. That’s how I got that Time Piece. They gave it to me.”

“Oh. Okay…” Cloak Kid shrugged it off. Maybe for once they could just walk around on the normal streets.

Since Mafia Town was built on a volcano, judging from yesterday’s… incident, the way to the beach was by climbing down. Luckily, there were ramps, stairs and ladders to make the trip easier.

Passing by some resident houses, the two noticed how the area they were entering looked a little more deserted. The white paint that was usually slapped onto the outsides of the brick buildings, were faded, but the Mafia graffiti was still noticeable, along with doodles from Mustache Girl drawing the Mafia Boss with both eyes pointing in different directions, along with random mustaches. Windows were shattered, and while they did their best to avoid making eye contact, there were still Mafiosos around patrolling, chatting, roasting meat over fire that was lit in a trash can.

Hat Kid tapped into her hat powers, her goal pointing them forward. Passing by a resident house on the edge of a cliff, they found a ladder to take them down. As they went descended, the cloak-wearing boy could hear the tingling noise of a Time Rift.

They stopped in front of an apartment, but below they could see the beach. There were many Mafiosos relaxing, grilling meat, and doing other things. Cloak Kid could see the Time Rift floating just above one of the tents they had set up. More likely than not, they might have chosen to just ignore it, since the two kids knew how simple-minded they were.

“There it is,” said Cloak Kid. “Come on, Hattie.”

When Cloak Kid got no response, he turned back and saw his shipmate staring at the apartment before them. She had reached for the doorknob, only to find it open with a mere push of a hand. Upon looking himself, he saw that despite the shattered windows and peeling paint off the walls, this place hadn’t been vandalized with graffiti at all. In fact, the same red writing from Mustache Girl’s cave was all over the place.

“Was she here?” Cloak Kid asked. Hat Kid shrugged and she stepped inside before he could say anything.

The living room smelled of dust… or what was left of it. All of the furniture was gone, except for the fireplace that was built into the building. Just above it, though, on the mantle, was the image of a little girl with a hood and two adults: A man and a woman, but their faces had been ripped off in the wreckage. The girl who remained, was positively beaming. Her golden eyes sparkled. The last scrap of paper was leaning forward, barely hanging on to the old, rusted and dusty frame.

“It’s that girl…” Hat Kid spoke softly. She turned to her shipmate slowly, her eyes shiny, like she could burst into tears.

“Maybe… this was her home?” Cloak Kid said.

“But what happened?”

Cloak Kid looked outside. The breeze that came in was the final straw that tore the photo scrap from the frame. Hat Kid, on impulse, caught it in her hands. She stared up at the walls, wallpaper torn, dust was settling on everything, she could even see from the kitchen without having to walk in there. It felt so lonely… She vaguely remembered that time when she sat alone in that stairwell.

“The rift is pink,” said Cloak Kid. His voice pulled Hat Kid back to the present. The Mafia are nearby. “The Time Piece may have hit one of them.”

“So?”

“I mean, the rift could contain something important if it’s already that unstable.”

Hat Kid tilted her head slightly. “I don’t get it.”

“Just follow me. And be careful. Pink Time Rifts are a little more tricky to get through. That’s what my grandfather told me.”

Hat Kid stared down at the photo scrap. She tucked away in her hat and quickly followed the boy. They jumped off the ledge and the two landed right on the pink glowing orb. All around them everything stopped, and a blinding white light engulfed them both.

Unlike the previous Time Rifts, this one was different. The two kids found themselves on a dock. It wasn’t Mafia Town, but they weren’t sure. The area around them was surrounded by water and it was unclear what was over the horizons. It was too dark and blurry when staring out to really see anything. There were crates, of course, seagulls flying overhead, and the smell of fish and the salty sea air.

“Just as I thought,” said Cloak Kid. “The Time Piece probably hit someone.”

“Where are we?” said Hat Kid.

“A fragmented piece of the past. This place is filled with the Mafia's thoughts and dreams.” The boy looked forward to seeing an open hatch ahead. “There. We have to go deeper. Maybe your hat can show us the way forward.”

“Can do!” the girl chimed.

The two jumped down, finding themselves at the same dock again, but there was more. A bunch of the crates had been pushed near the edge. Up ahead, they saw a ship, but it was too far away to get over the water. The ship was pretty big, carrying tons of cargo stacked on top of each other. On the side the ship read the “S.S. ‘None-of-your-business.’”

“Hmph!” Hat Kid only huffed. Using her hat, her vision dimmed and landed on the target: The next hatch.

Hat Kid yelped when they landed in the next area. They were on the ship now, but it was moving, cutting through the waves of the open sea. Mafia were dancing and cheering. It also smelled like fish which made her pinch her nose.

“Easy!” Cloak Kid said, catching from her swaying. “That’s not real water around us. Fall in, and beneath us is an endless abyss.”

“Okay…” said Hat Kid. “Do you see anything?” She squinted as she tapped into her hat power, but all she saw in terms of her goal was the next hatch.

“No.” Cloak Kid shook his head.

“Aww… Why is it so far…?” Hat Kid whined.

“I think the Time Piece is trying to show us something. It’s not sentient, of course. It’s just serving its function.”

“Oh. What about you?”

“I’m okay,” said Cloak Kid. “Let’s just keep moving. Sea sickness is way different than space sickness.”

Cloak Kid headed forward, while Hat Kid’s eyes drifted around for a bit. She remembered she saw a dock and now they were on a ship. She then saw the Mafia Boss standing proudly at the front of the ship. She pulled out her umbrella, but then recalled how this was the past. So from the looks of it, the Mafia had come from somewhere and briefly she remembered Mustache Girl’s house.

_“You must be very lost, kid with the hat. You’re in the heart of our town, standing before the most powerful man you will ever witness.”_

The words rang through Hat Kid’s head, like a familiar song. She gripped her umbrella tighter. She knew it wasn’t really him, but a memory of him. It didn’t stop the tension, though.

Once they went through the next hatch, they started seeing the familiar brick buildings and stone streets of Mafia Town. It didn’t look like anywhere in the town though. Cloak Kid found himself colliding with Hat Kid backwards. They were at a fountain, and the Mafia were walking on giant rolling pieces of meat.

“Well, things are looking a bit more unstable…” Cloak Kid stuttered, shaking a bit. “I think we’re getting close.”

Hat Kid looked across from where they were and saw the next hatch over a gap of water. Luckily, there was a clothesline they could get to.

“This way!” Hat Kid pulled her partner by the hand and the boy was swung and yanked, dodging huge hunks of meat until they made it to the palm tree the clothesline was tied to.

“Okay!” Cloak Kid hooked the end of his staff on the line. He turned to Hat Kid and extended his arm. She ran over and embracing each other they ziplined across the hidden abyss. Hat Kid clung desperately, while the boy was trying his best not to look down.

Hat Kid landed on the stone pavement on the other side first and it took some coaxing to get Cloak Kid to land next. The end of his staff detached, releasing a wire to keep it together and lowered him to the ground slowly. With a tug, he got the hook end of the line and retracted the hook back into place.

Once they passed through the next hatch they found themselves in a lone space. It was just them and a pink glowing ball of light that was sitting safely in a bird’s nest. The waters around them were calm and there was no Mafioso for miles.

“Uh… It’s the rift?” said Hat Kid.

Cloak Kid, holding his shaky hands close to himself, walked up to it slowly. “This is it.”

“But where’s the Time Piece?”

The boy pulled out his staff. “We have to break the rift.”

Hat Kid gasped. “A-Are you s-sure? What about the Time Piece?”

“For once, the hourglass will be fine. We have to do it before the Rift gets any worse.”

The girl nodded and carefully gripped her umbrella. “Okay…”

Cloak Kid gave the rift the first whack, launching it into the air with several cracks now on it, already. Hat Kid was waiting with her umbrella to hit it again, sending it back in the boy’s direction. He hit it upward and Hat Kid jumped in for the final strike. The rift landed in the nest again, shattering in the Rift in a blaze of light. Floating up, without a strike on it was the Time Piece.

Hat Kid smiled in relief, as Cloak Kid ran up and grabbed it. For once breaking things was the answer. A light enveloped them, taking them back to the beach where they first found the rift.

Cloak Kid held the Time Piece carefully as they went back to the ship. The hourglass was pulsing with an odd light, but he refused to say anything until they were back on the ship.

Once the ship was secure, Cloak Kid sat in the captain’s chair, holding the hourglass.

“Is it okay?” said Hat Kid. She had walked up to him with Rumbi following closely behind. They probably tracked in some dirt from today’s adventure.

“This one was in a rift,” said Cloak Kid. “I think it has something to show us.”

“Is that why it’s glowing?” Her teal eyes were focusing on the shiny glass.

“Hmm… Grandpa could get it to work without any powers, but I think I can just do this…” The boy pulled up his hood and gazed into the sparkling hourglass. It shimmered and began to float in his hand. Images began to appear on the glass.

The first thing they saw were a bunch of Mafia marching towards some kind of factory. The logo had the Mafia Boss’ face on it and a happy looking fish. The skies above were dark with smoke and smog and all of it was coming out of the building.

The next thing they say were the Mafia working in the dingy environment. It looked unclean. Fish were lying on the stained floor, the walls were dirty and no amount of mopping they or the boss did was helping. In fact the boss seemed down in the dumbs. As he thought, the two could see what he was thinking. He was picturing a tropical island, with crystal clear waters, blue skies and happy sea creatures.

Next, they saw the proud Mafia Boss on a ship with many of his best men. There were women waving goodbye to them with their hankies. As they set out the men enjoyed themselves on the ocean, soaking up the sun, playing with beach balls and seagulls were flying overhead. If they got hungry they had all the meat they could ever want to hold themselves over.

Then, the ship came across an island. It looked just like Mafia Town, but much cleaner and clearer. That was where the Mafia landed, staked their claim with a flag that said, “Mafia Town #1,” and now there was trash, TNT and meat everywhere, including the giant water spout that held up their HQ.

The hourglass’ luminous light faded, having shown what it saw landed safely, back in Cloak Kid’s hands.

“The Mafia weren’t originally from that island…” the boy said.

Hat Kid was clutching the small photo scrap in her hands. “Mustache Girl… They wanted a new home, but they took hers.”

Cloak Kid saw the girl running her fingers over the photo scrap gently. He knew what she was thinking. He saw it when he looked into her eyes, before she even spoke. “Is that why she…”

“We still can’t let her find them, Hattie…” Though, the thought of what they had done, did make his blood boil. Coming to her home, taking it as their own...

“When this is over… maybe we can help her…” Hat Kid said. “Without the Time Piece, of course.”

Cloak Kid shrugged and turned back to the ship’s controls. He wasn’t sure. What happened in Mafia Town was terrible, but they had to save the very fabric of time. It was already enough that the Time Pieces were scattered across the planet, but they couldn’t stop to help every problem, and they especially couldn’t use the Time Pieces to do so.

“I’m not seeing any signals in Mafia Town anymore…” he said. Hat Kid stood up slowly.

“But, we don’t have all the Time Pieces. Does that mean they’re somewhere else on the planet?”

Cloak Kid nodded. “I have enough power to at least move the ship a little. So, I’ll recalibrate our sensors once I see something.”

Hat Kid was already at the window, her palms pressing against the glass. With the pull of a lever, Hat Kid could hear the powerful engines whirr on and the ship began to move. They moved away from the view of the waters and the island of “Mafia Town” and saw a view of what looked like a desert. They could see tons of train tracks, though.

The scanners immediately went to work and began to pick up multiple signals. All them, however, were centered in one location.

“Whoa…” said Cloak Kid. “This is either really good, or really bad.”

“If we’re careful we could get them all at once,” said Hat Kid. “Where do we have to go?”

Cloak Kid sent out the probes and were given an image minutes later of a big building. Cars were parked up in a huge parking lot and the giant doors were shiny and made of glass.

“A place called…” Cloak Kid wasn’t sure if he was reading correctly. “Deadbird Studio?”


	9. the Conductor and the DJ

There was something about that new hat Hat Kid had made that caught Cloak Kid’s attention. It sat newly finished in the science lab on a table. It looked like a pointed witch hat, that was a dark shade of indigo. It had a yellow band with orange stripes and the edges of the hat were stripped, as well. Then there were two tiny vials of that potion attached to the side.

Hat Kid had tested it out in Mafia Town. She was careful not to hit any Mafia, since they thought of her as a hero now. In fact, it seemed they loved it. It was almost as explosive as their TNT. Cloak Kid made sure Hat Kid didn’t use too much of that bomb powder in her potions, so that the blasts were more controlled.

That in mind, the boy wondered if he could use it for a less destructive purpose. He was in a light blue mood for this cloak design and got to work, sewing into the night until he was slumped on his desk, fast asleep.

Now that they had some Time Pieces back, Hat Kid could get back into the engine room. The upper part of the walls were green, with the lower part a cool brown color. Gears were all over the walls turning away in different directions and speeds. It’s also where they kept a lot of their systems.

Near the back by the book shelves was a 7-Stage Tri-Calculationg Quantum Harmoniser. It was pretty expensive, but who doesn’t deserve to treat themselves every now and then? Cloak Kid had so many books that some of them had to be stored in the engine room. So there were shelves in the back. While Cloak Kid called it the “cool word zone,” Hat Kid called it a “Thing you can’t even slightly fill yourself, Steven, you’ll never find a publisher, and all that time you spend in your study is time you could spend with your kids,’ to which Cloak Kid had asked, “Who the heck is Steven?”

Then there was the VGS 1 - fastest, most complex supercomputer ever to be built. Hat and Cloak Kid loved using it. Then, one day they had to leave the orbit of the planet fast, because they searched up something, and then their search history got submitted for federal review by the nearby planet.

At the center of the room was a platform, with a set of stairs to get up to it, so Hat Kid could access the ship’s main power supply, and check the batteries. Since they didn’t have a lot of power at the moment, Hat Kid just diverted most of the power to making their rooms, the lobby and the kitchen function. However, she wondered where Cloak Kid had gotten himself off too. The ship was kind of big, so it was easy to lose track of one another.

She had to manually push the doors open to get into the lab, but she didn’t mind. It was past their bedtime, but her shipmate was already asleep. Next to him, she found a newly made cloak made with a light blue cloth. Hat Kid sighed, and started shaking him gently. A small mumble left him, and he slowly opened his eyes and sat up, swaying a bit, before Hat Kid steadied him.

“Hattie?” he said, rubbing one of his eyes. He looked at her, but his eyes were unfocused.

“Come on…” she said, helping him to his feet. He stumbled, so she let him lean on her, and she guided him to bed. She sighed again as she tucked him in once more as if he were still a young child. Technically, they both still were, so she couldn’t blame him. While he was still very ill, she had to step up and do most of the work. She was scared for a while, but once things got better, it warmed her heart to see that her shipmate was well taken care of and was more than happy to make sure he was well fed and rested to avoid him getting as sick as he was all that time ago.

Now, as she tucked him in, and rubbed his shoulder, she felt all fuzzy inside to hear his soft sigh and see him smile.

“I’m sorry. I hope I didn’t worry you…” Cloak Kid mumbled.

“It’s okay,” said Hat Kid. “Just go to sleep.” And she stayed with him until he did just that, before turning off the lights and heading to her room to sleep, as well.

The next morning was going by nicely. Today the two would head down to a new area on this mysterious planet. The signals left by the Time Pieces were clustered close together and were at a place called Deadbird Studio. Cloak Kid already had his new cloak out. It was light blue with a white edging, but the ends were spread out like a flower, and the hood had a floppy end with a white puffball on it. For now, he had his regular cloak on.

He was waiting for Hat Kid, staring blankly at the planet below, ever curious and also nervous about what would be ahead for them.

“Deadbird Studio…” he read. He was tapped on the shoulder and saw Hat Kid next to him with that bottle of medicine he disliked so much. He was too busy with worry to care about the taste at the moment. So he took his medicine like a big boy and now they were ready to go.

Outside, it was kind of humid once they landed in what was a giant parking lot. All the cars looked the same, just in a different color. What mattered was the big building ahead.

“What do you think a place called Deadbird Studio does?” said Hat Kid.

“I don’t know…” said Cloak Kid. “Let’s go in, and ask around, but try not to mention anything about what the Time Pieces do…” He rubbed his arm, and Hat Kid frowned, remembering his fear about Mustache Girl. As they walked in through the glass door, she wondered what that girl was up to?

The two walked into the lobby and were there to witness an argument between two people. The first was a bit taller than then and was dressed in a black suit, with a purple tie and had a conductor hat on his head. His feathers were yellow, making them wonder if he was some kind of bird. His teeth were jagged and he had winged hands, but no eyes were visible on his face. The other was a penguin. He was way taller with those high rise red shoes. His matching red coat with the puffed out collar had stars on it, as well as his pants. He had big star-shaped shades over his eyes and his eyebrows were so long they leaned against the big afro on his head.

“This movie studio is too big for the both of us, DJ Grooves!” the bird in the conductor’s uniform proclaimed. “The movie should be made by REAL birds! You Moon Penguins are just gonna write some loud, noisy drivel! If I wanted a bunch of peck necks to dance around while on bird seed, ha! I’d visit me grandchildren!”

“Nonsense, darling, nonsense!” the penguin dismissed the remarks. “You Owl Express birds are just going to record another boring train-related western! You’ve done so for the last ten years, darling!”

“What?! No we haven’t, yer buffoon!” But the movie pictures on the wall said otherwise.

“Conductor, darling, this year we’ll be winning the annual bird movie award as our new movie props will bring in the audiences!”

Cloak Kid covered his mouth as he gasped. Moon Penguins walked up behind this “DJ Grooves” holding a display case. Within it, were none other than two Time Pieces.

“These shiny things fell from the sky!” said DJ Grooves. “They will light our move sets and fill them with glimmer!”

“Oh yeah?” said the Conductor. “Well, this time around, we’re ALSO spicing it up with our newest movie props!” Hat Kid tugged her shipmates sleeves at what she saw. Some Owl Express Birds were carrying a display case and there more Time Pieces inside. “These hourglass thingies will be the grand jewel in our train heist western!”

The two birds locked eyes, both eying their so-called “props.”

“WHADDA WHAT?!” the Conductor yelled. “You no-good dirty peck necks! You copied our props!”

“I would never, darling!” DJ Grooves scoffed. “Clearly you’re the one who took inspiration in my flashy new props.”

“That does it!” the Conductor growled. “Get outta here with ye, I’ve got a movie to record!”

“Fine by me, darling. But we’ll be the ones who win the annual bird movie award, mark my word!” And with that he went through some double doors on the right side of the reception room and he was gone, taking the Time Pieces with him. The Conductor had stormed up to the closed door with some boards, a hammer and nails.

“Oh yeah?! Let’s see how well ye do when you can’t get into the reception!” he said, barricading the door shut. “GWAHAHAHAHA!” He stepped away and then stopped after thinking to himself. “Of wait, shutting the peck necks inside the studio will force them to work harder.” He huffed and and walked back towards the owls on the other side of the room. “Alright, time to go, owls! Let’s make our killer movie!” An owl opened the door and they left with the display case of Time Pieces. “Oh, and receptionist, can yer PLEASE close off that vent already? I don’t want the smell of penguin to come anywhere near my crew!” Before he could answer he was already gone.

“So, they make movies here?” said Hat Kid. “Cool!” She was already walking off to check things out. Cloak Kid on the other hand, really wanted those Time Pieces back, so he decided to ask around a bit, and maybe talk to the receptionist, who was also a fellow bird among this building of birds. Despite being inside, the boy still kept his hood up.

Cloak Kid was still, in fact, a child, so he could barely see the receptionist when he walked up to the counter. He had to stand on tiptoes. Even though he was on a serious mission, he could already tell that this wasn’t going to be easy with these adults already seeing him as just a child and nothing more… Well, an alien child, no less. He and Hat Kid were not from this planet, after all.

“Hello, mister,” said Cloak Kid.

The bird in question looked down at him and smiled. “Oh, hey lil’ chirper. They’re recording right now, so no one is allowed in. We’re only insured for bird staff. Letting you would be a liability!”

“Um, okay. But… I have a question. Do you know anything about those, uh… shiny things that were in here.”

“Oh, you’re curious about those, huh? Not really sure where they came from. People saw shiny things falling down from the sky, and then I guess those directors found them. Those hourglass things are pretty shiny. What’s with the interest?”

“Oh, uh… I’m… collecting them…”

“Well, you’ll have to wait until they’re done filming to talk to them. You can call our service and make an appointment. If not, there’s also…”

While Cloak Kid was getting his ear talked off, Hat Kid walked up to the trophy case on the right side of the reception office, where that DJ Grooves penguin had gone off through the door that was now boarded up. There were a lot of trophies, but they were all silver colored, but on the top shelf, she could see one gold one sitting proudly inside. She turned around, seeing the other display case and saw that Conductor’s trophy case had all the gold ones, with only one silver.

Cloak Kid had finished talking to the receptionist, remembering to be polite and say thank-you, but then he sat down on the nearby bench in a pout. He could go through the proper channels. If those foolish directors weren’t careful they could break one while filming! His breath hitched. It was already warm in the room, his cloak becoming too hot, all of a sudden.

“Pssst!”

Then Hat Kid had walked over to a small dispenser that spat out shades with a pull of a letter. She pulled out a pair and placed it over her eyes. Then she smiled, showing her pearly whites, and pointed at Cloak Kid. The boy giggled, his shaking dying down. Hat Kid gasped, happy that she made him laugh. She pulled the lever again, and only thought that what was funnier than one pair of shades was two, and she put them on while putting her hands on her hips. She let out a giggle herself, upon seeing her shipmate laughing a bit louder.

Reaching for a third pair, she pulled the lever, only for the machine to explode from overuse. The unused pairs of shades flew everywhere and the parts of the machine were all over the place and only the empty shattered case remained.

“HEY!” the receptionist squawked at the young girl. “That’s a three thousand Pon fine, young lady!”

“Wh-What are Pons?” Hat Kid could only mumble as the receptionist started marching out from behind his desk and walked towards her.

“H-Hattie?” Cloak Kid’s hesitant and quiet voice, snapped Hat Kid out from her trance. Before she was grabbed, she jumped onto DJ Grooves’ trophy case and ran to the loose vent. She managed to rip it off and climbed inside.

The receptionist got out his walkie-talkie. “Trespassing… That’s gotta be seven thousand Pons…” he grumbled. While he was distracted at the vent, Cloak Kid saw that his back was turned away from the other double doors. He remembered how that Conductor bird said something about that vent leading to DJ Grooves’ studio, so the other doors must lead to him.

Cloak Kid sighed. He snuck away on his tip toes and quietly pushed the doors open into the Conductor’s studio.

Sneaking around was nothing new. He had been taught to be as quiet and swift from a young age. It’s one of the reasons he was home-schooled.

_“Be fast and swift. Hide and stay in the shadows, just like how we work.”_

The studio was dark, but Hat Kid could see a stage up ahead. There were colorful lights, dancing holograms, UFOs, and lots of Moon Penguins. They were all wearing black suits and fedoras with a blue stripe on the band. There were a lot of backdrops to sneak behind, so she tried to slip past while they weren’t looking. DJ Grooves was sitting in the director’s chair.

“Cameras! Lights! Action!”

The music was loud as Hat Kid snuck by the backdrops. All the cameras were focused on the set, and the noise quieted her footsteps. She reached a conveyor belt. Her hat power was pointing in the same direction, so she pulled the lever, hoping it would take her to the right place.

“Let’s make this movie happen! Owls! In position… ACTION!”

Cloak Kid walked in to hear the loud voice of the Conductor. Immediately, he ducked and hid behind some crates.

The Conductor was focused on his Express Owls. They typically wore long tailcoats and a hat, their collared t-shirts were stripped and their pants were nice slacks. The ones on the stage were dressed up like bandits, riding on fake horses with a moving background.

“What scene are we on?” the Conductor said to an owl, as Cloak Kid found a backdrop of a train on the stage to sneak past. “Forty-two? Oh, because you’re not supposed to be in frame for SCENE FORTY-TWO!”

Cloak Kid shivered and covered his mouth to stifle some coughs. Smoke was coming from the top of the fake train. It was probably fake from a fog machine.

“Oi! You in the background!” Upon hearing that Cloak Kid nearly jumped out of his cloak. He hid behind a train backdrop, under a window. “What the peck is wrong with ye?!”

The boy peeked just a little, and saw he was just chewing out one of the background actors. He got back down on his hands and knees and kept crawling until he made it to a fake building. A fake cactus was in the way so he just pushed it aside, but it fell down. Hoping no one heard he walked forward, trying to stay out of sight and praying he wouldn’t get charged for assaulting a cactus.

Hat Kid found herself checking rooms. One room had green walls, and the floor reminded her of a room. She shook her head and left. Another had a counter with shiny lights on the mirrors frames. There were many costumes on a cart of racks, and lots of fan letters on the floors. Still, she saw no sign of the Time Pieces.

“If I was a DJ…” Hat Kid mumbled. She was thinking deeply to herself. She also hoped Cloak Kid was okay.

“Magnificent! Stunning!” she then heard. She ran towards the source of the noise. Her hat power was pointing in the voice’s direction all of a sudden. Maybe they had the Time Pieces on them.

The girl walked into a room that had red curtains around the whole room. She walked on the red carpet with bright stars, up to none other than DJ Grooves. He was admiring a giant golden version of those awards that was in front of him.

“This trophy is everything I desire… on the shelf in my living room!” said the DJ. “Of course, this big trophy is just a plastic replica! The actual trophy is really tiny!”

Hat Kid was just curiously staring, until he turned around and saw her. She let out a tiny yelp and backed away a little, but she didn’t move after that.

“Oh my! Oh my! What is that I see?” DJ Grooves suddenly said, astonished. “Is it true inner beauty? An innocent soul with a heart of gold?”

Hat Kid reached up and removed her two pairs of glasses. She hadn’t been called that before. As she revealed her teal colored eyes, she was happy to hear that maybe she did have inner beauty… but she certainly wasn’t innocent.

“Oh, no. It’s just a little girl,” the DJ then said. “Hello! Oh, wait, you’re not a penguin.”

“U-Um…” Hat Kid could barely mumble.

“That’s good! I could use some non-penguin company around here, as all my penguins are frankly terrible actors!”

“R-Really?” said Hat Kid.

“Of course, darling! Here’s the biz: I need your help. I’m on a terrible losing streak, and just HAVE to win this next annual bird movie award.”

“M-Me? I don’t know anything about making movies.”

“Maybe, but there is no doubt; I absolutely MUST have you as the star!”

“W-Wait.” The girl tried to stay calm, but her heart was racing what he just said. “M-Me? A star!” Her eyes were glittering, but then she remembered Cloak Kid’s worried face. “W-Wait! I’ll… I’ll do it, but… I need something from you in return.”

“What is it darling? Say the word!”

“I saw you walk into the reception with those shiny hourglass thingies. I’m… collecting them.”

“Oh, must you, darling? We absolutely must use them to shine up the movie with glimmer!”

“Um… Okay, we can use them for the movie, but after that, can I have them?”

“Of course darling! So, you’ll be our star?”

Hat Kid formed fists and nodded excitedly. “YES!”

“Wonderful, darling!” DJ Grooves exclaimed. “Just wonderful! Meet me at the movie set tomorrow and we’ll make you a star!”

_“Bring a better performance than the penguins, at least…”_

Cloak Kid had escaped the set, and the endless onslaught of the Conductor’s constant yelling… at least in the terms of the noise. He could still hear his voice somewhat through the walls of the hallway he found himself in. The boy looked in some dressing rooms, and found nothing. He went into a room where there were tons of props for a good old fashion western movie. There were cowboy hats, bandanas, fake pistols, boots, and other items.

With a huff, Cloak Kid formed a pout with his lips. There was still no sign of the Time Pieces. If the Conductor called them “props” why were they in the room with the other ones? He stormed out of the hallway and saw an unusual amount of something gold coming from another room.

When he walked in, he was shocked to see many, many golden trophies everywhere. The shine was almost blinding. It was clear that he must have won many times, but through the gold, he saw a white glittering light. Any lead was something, and to his surprise, he saw the Time Pieces in the case. He sighed in relief. They seemed to be okay. He could only hope that Hat Kid was fine, but they had to find a way to get the ones DJ Grooves had, as well.

“HEY! WHATCHA THINK YER DOIN?!”

Just as Cloak Kid was about to try and open the case, the Conductor had come and stormed over towards him. The boy stumbled away, his back meeting with the case. He held his hands near himself.

“Yer can’t just jump in and fiddle with my props! That’s fraud! FRAUD!” Cloak Kid covered his ears at how high his voice had gone in that moment. “Hey everyone, we’ve got a FRAUDSTER OVER HERE!”

He yelled that, but no one was coming. Cloak Kid didn’t hear any footsteps running towards them or anything. So, they stood there in silence, and the Conductor turned to the door.

“WHERE ARE MY OWL GUARDS AT?! Why are the owls so darn useless?!” He turned back to the kid only to find him, trying to reach for a Time Piece. The owl had enough and roughly grabbed the child by the arm and yanked him away. He landed on the floor on his bottom, with his hood coming down, revealing his chestnut locks of hair. “What the peck do ya think yer doin’?!”

“The… Those things. I need them,” said Cloak Kid. “I’m… a collector, and… they’re really rare.”

“I don’t give a peck what they are! Those things are going to make sure that I win against that no-good DJ Grooves! Oi, wait a minute! Yer not even an owl or a blasted penguin!”

Cloak Kid reached for his hood. “U-Um…”

“Listen here, laddie. Yer in big trouble. If I can’t take ye to jail, then you’ve got to help me win this year’s annual bird movie awards.”

Cloak Kid stood up slowly, dusting himself off. He laid a hand on his staff. It was retracted and hidden away in his pocket. “I don’t know anything about making movies.”

“I didn’t ask if ye did, laddie, now did I?!” Cloak Kid winced at the Conductor’s voice. “I’m telling ye that yer got to star in my movies.”

Cloak Kid huffed. As if he was going to listen to this loudmouth.

“And why would I do…”

“Because yer need these, don’t ya?” the Conductor opened the case and tossed a Time Piece at him. Cloak Kid lunged forward, and caught it before it hit the ground. “Help me win against that no good DJ Grooves, and yer can have your dumb thingy majigies ya like so much.”

Cloak Kid held the Time Piece protectively. As much as he didn’t want to leave the other two Time Pieces in there, he didn’t really have a choice other than fighting against an entire studio of birds.

“Okay, fine,” the boy grumbled. “I’ll help with your movies.”

“Good. Now go practice showing off that shiny movie prop and meet me on the set tomorrow! _Don’t_ be late!” he almost hissed at the child.

Cloak Kid was led out of the room, but he saw the other two Time Pieces still sitting there.

_I’ll get them…_ he thought. _And I won’t fail again!_


	10. Justice In A Darkest Hour

“Hattie, stop!”

“You stop! Hold still, and I’ll be done quicker.”

As soon as Cloak Kid had returned to the ship and stowed away the one time piece he managed to get back today, Hat Kid immediately wanted them to eat dinner and sleep. Then, the next morning, he was dragged out of bed and Hat Kid demanded he’d shower. Now he was in Hat Kid’s room, while she was trying to brush his hair.

“You’re going to be on camera!” Hat Kid insisted. “It’s not everyday we become stars!”

“Is that how the DJ guy put it?” said Cloak Kid. “And I didn’t come to this planet to be a star! I shouldn’t be!” The boy crossed his arms, as his shipmate patted his head. “Grandfather told me to maintain our discretion.”

The girl sat down, brush resting in her lap. “Is that why at first you avoided me?”

“Well that, and you mugged me.”

“Oh.” She was about to frown, but then smiled upon seeing him laugh instead of showing any anger.

“It wasn’t just for me… it was because of my grandfather. We had to…” He shook his head. “Doesn’t matter now…” He stood, but Hat Kid stood in his way as he tried to exit.

“Well, let’s just make the most of it.” She went up and down on the tips of her feet. “No one on the planet knows about what Time Pieces can do. Well, except that Mustache Girl.”

“Do you ever wonder what she’s up to?” Hat Kid could feel his eyes on her own… Then he looked down and sighed. He wasn’t reading her deepest thoughts. His hood had to be up to do so.

“Yeah, but we’re making good progress. If getting the Time Pieces means we’re on camera, we should go for it. Besides, it could be fun.”

“U-Um… I’m just not good… Being exposed like this…” Cloak Kid said, nervously.

“No! We’re going to be famous!” Hat Kid exclaimed. She turned around and started walking towards the door. Her shipmate followed behind her. “I just hope I don’t have to sing…”

“I thought we were making movies.”

“And hopefully it’s not the musical kind.”

The Owl Express was basically the only train on the strange planet. Of course, Cloak Kid knew what a train was, but what he didn’t count on was that it was the only one. It made it easier for him to spot it, on the other hand.

The train was really big, with many carts. All of them were black like the Conductor’s suit. It was chugging along through the desert when he landed on the roof of the last cart. He wasn’t actually sure where the train would stop, so he just jumped down while it was moving. After all, the Conductor just said to meet him on the train with no other specific instructions. He could only hope that Hat Kid would have better luck with DJ Grooves. Whoever won didn’t matter to him. He just wanted those Time Pieces, before something bad happened.

As Cloak Kid climbed down to the back of the last cart, he was surprised to see the Conductor there.

“What the-? How did you get here? And what’s with yer hair?”

Cloak Kid remembered Hat Kid brushing it and ruffled it all up again with hands. “If I told you, would you believe me?”

“Nah, I guess not.” The Conductor sighed with a huff. “I didn’t think you’d actually come, laddie. I haven’t completed the script for the movie, so we’re not recording yet. I’ll call for yer when the script is ready. So, get inside before yer fall off. And yer better not break anything on the train. It’s my baby!”

Cloak Kid sighed. “Yes, sir.” And he went inside to check things out.

He wasn’t surprised to see Express Owls on the train. What he didn’t expect were crows. They were taller and more slender than the Express Owls, and they wore brown overcoats with matching fedoras. With his hood up, he could only see their desire of keeping an eye on the people on the train, which was what they were doing. They seemed to be pestering them, asking personal questions. Maybe the crows were some kind of security for the set?

The boy thought of that, but they didn’t seem to stop him from going into the other carts, or looking around. He went through the diner and they were just sitting around, talking about who knows what and laughing. Perhaps he could find the Time Piece without having to be put on camera.

Cloak Kid’s eyes sparkled when he got to the front of the train. It was functioning with the latest and greatest in train technology. He ran up to the controls and admired all the cools, buttons and levers, and then sat down in the Conductor’s chair. It was a bit big, but considering that he wasn’t much shorter than the Conductor, it didn’t bother him. He found a spare conductor’s hat and put it on his head, and giggled at the thought of himself as the Conductor. He kicked the desk and made the chair spin around, laughing.

As the chair stopped, he held his head from the world still spinning and leaned back in the chair to regain his senses. Just as he did, he saw a box under the control panel. So, he got down on his knees and pulled it out from under. Instead of a Time Piece, or a tool kit, or whatever a train engineer or conductor would have, he found a detective outfit instead. It was sized just for him, which was strange enough.

Before he could do anything else, he heard the sound of a phone ringing. With the box in hand, he ran up to an old timey telephone. He took what he assumed was the thing to listen with off and spoke.

“Um… hello?”

**“Is this the kid with the cloak?”** the deep scary voice, made the boy flinch. **“I hope you like my present… he he he.”**

Cloak Kid looked down at the box of clothes. Did this mystery person leave it for him?

**“Go to the back of the train. Your uncle’s sister has come to visit you. You better your fam’ some love, or I’ll be talking to a corpse next time.”** And before the boy could answer, the mystery caller hung up.

Fam’? There’s no way anyone besides Hat Kid knew he was on this planet. The only family he had ever known was his grandfather and he wasn’t here! But, that last part sent shivers down his spine. “Talking to a corpse”? He had to get to the bottom of this. Maybe he could tell the Conductor?

Cloak Kid rushed from cart to cart, heading towards the back of the train. Yes, he was listening to the strange caller, but it was where he last saw the Conductor. With any luck, he would still be there.

When he ran into the last train car, he was greeted with a horrifying sight.

There was an Express Owl laying on the floor in a pool of blood. There was a knife stuck into his back and he wasn’t moving. Also, there was a cardboard cut out of a woman, but that mattered, so little to the boy at the moment.

Immediately, he shook. He remembered broken glass, flames, a knife in the air…

There was no one to help him. No safety. No Hat Kid to calm him down. Cloak Kid took a deep breath and let out a scream that shook every passenger on board.

“A-A A MURDER? On MY Owl Express!?”

The shrill yell of the Conductor, made Cloak Kid flinch. He found himself on the ground of the room still hazy and swaying a bit, rocking from the movement of the train. The groan he let out, caught the Conductor’s attention, and then he was in his line of sight.

“Laddie! There yer are!” Never in the short time Cloak Kid had known the Conductor did he think he would be concerned about him like this… or at all. “I walked in and found ye passed out.”

Cloak Kid sat up, slowly, being eased up by the Conductor. It appeared that the other passengers had come in and saw the scene as well. All the Express Owls were gathered around. Upon seeing the Express Owl’s body still there, Cloak Kid shrieked, and hid his face in his hands. He tried to reach for his cloak, but upon feeling no fabric, he saw that his cloak was gone.

“Wh-Where’s…”

“I can’t believe someone would murder one of the Express Owls!” said the Conductor. “And I can’t believe even more, that it’s yer uncle’s sister!”

Cloak Kid forced himself to look, fighting the tears gathering in eyes and remembered seeing some kind of cardboard cutout of a woman. Obviously, that wasn’t his uncle’s sister, nor did he have one.

“U-Um…” he tried to speak up.

“What do yer have to say for yerself?!” the Conductor yelled at the cutout, like it was a real person. Since it was just that, he got no response. “Oh. Yer giving me the quiet treatment, eh?! That’s what a _murderer_ would do!”

Cloak Kid was watching the Conductor closely as he rolled his r’s. He wanted to speak up about the cardboard cutout, but wondered if he didn’t see what was going on, because of his lack of visible eyes.

“Leave this case to us.”

Just then, a squad of crows stormed into the wagon. The one leading the charger held out a wing, holding out their wallet, which unfolded to reveal a badge.

“We’re CAW, the Crow Agent Watch. We’ve been monitoring everyone on this train since the last station. We’ll be searching the entire train for evidence. _No one_ is allowed to go outside of this wagon.”

“WHAT?!” the Conductor yelled. “I can’t even walk around in me own train!? How _dare_ yer!” The crow agents didn’t seem phased by the Conductor’s tone, however.

“Once the clock hits midnight, we’ll get off at the station with the murderer in cuffs,” the CAW agent declared. “Stay here while we investigate further.”

“M-Midnight?!” Cloak Kid said. Was he unconscious that long? He looked around, but couldn’t find a clock anywhere. He should’ve been home in bed by now. Hat Kid was going to kill him.

The Conductor growled, while the crowd of Express Owls stared in horror at the body laying before them.

“Those C.A.W. peck necks can’t tell me what to do! I bet they committed the murder, and are destroying all the evidence!”

Once again, Cloak Kid’s hands were covering his mouth. As the many owls squabble amongst themselves, he was too focused on the poor Express Owl lying there on the ground. His body still shook, and now that his cloak was gone, he couldn’t read people’s thoughts to try and find the murderer, not to mention that they were confined to the train car they now stood in.

As tears flowed down from his eyes, and his body trembled in terror, he felt the same way he had felt once in a long time: A pure sense of helplessness. The way he was able to do nothing, but run… But if he ran, it would make him look guilty, wouldn’t it?

Cloak Kid swallowed hard, and wiped the tears from his eyes. No! He wasn’t as sick as he was back then. So now, maybe he could do something! He never got it, but he could at least give this poor Express Owl the very thing he craved at this very moment: Justice!

The Conductor turned around from yelling at the other owls, to find that the cloak-wearing boy had put on the detective clothes.

“Lad, what are yer doing?” he said.

“I’m going to find the murderer!” Cloak Kid declared. “So… watch my clothes for me?” He put his tunic and other belongings in the box he was given, but kept his staff with him, as he rushed out of the wagon.

Besides, he never really listened to anyone’s rules…

**11:00**

The CAW birds were already out and about searching, while others were just making sure that no one had wandered out of the wagon everyone else was in. Cloak Kid could only conclude that the murderer was the one who stole his cloak, so he could read people’s desires. So, they had to know about his powers.

However, just because they stole that cloak, didn’t mean they had taken the two other ones he made. Now he could put the new one he made to the test: The Rocket Cloak. With it, he could use it for a short explosion of speed and launch himself into the air with a high jump. It also made for quick getaway if he needed it. He jumped over some boxes and bookshelves with it to avoid some crows and ran into the next wagon.

_How could the crows still be talking and laughing in the dining area like nothing happened?_ Cloak Kid wondered. They seemed to not notice him, as long as he snuck by while they were caught up in their laughter. _Maybe the Conductor was right? Maybe they were the culprits? No. It’s too early to be certain._

Cloak Kid entered another train car, and it seemed to be the rec room. There were poker machines, gambling tables, pool tables and dart boards. To his surprise, the room was empty, but on one of the pool tables, he found a file that was labeled “confidential” in all red letters. He opened it, and it was a file. It looked like CAW really were taking note of everyone on the train. This file was about the Conductor himself.

Suddenly, Cloak Kid heard footsteps. He rushed to the door and entered the next train car.

**11:10**

Luggage room. The boy could tell from all the suitcases stacked up in bunches. In fact, they were tall enough to jump on and stay out of sight. But, before he did any of that, he heard the ringing of a telephone again. Another one of those old timey phones had been stationed in the luggage.

“You!” Cloak Kid snapped. But the mystery caller was already speaking before he could say more.

**“So you think you can just sneak around the train like this? Just drop the detective act. You’ll never catch the real murderer… he he he. You can’t point your finger at someone without clues. The clock is ticking. Will you be able to find enough clues to point your finger at the murderer?**

“Yes, but I’m wasting time talking to you!” And Cloak Kid hung before the caller could respond. A few Crows were skulking around in the luggage room. Maybe they were searching the suitcases for things the murderer could’ve brought in, like a spare knife, or something?

In the back, however, he found another file, but it was about CAW themselves. Why would the crows point the finger at themselves? At least they were thorough. Their need to know everything about everything was almost on the creepy side. Still, Cloak Kid needed more evidence.

**11:20**

He entered the luxury suite. The carpet was plush and red, golden framed chairs and tables were at the entrance. There was a glass divider with an archway into the rest of the suite. The glass itself was blurry, so no crow agents could see through it, which was great, because there were some of them about. When one of them wasn’t looking he snuck into the rest of the suite to look around.

On a lone table, he could see a file. With the Cloak of Shadows on, his footsteps were quieter. He grabbed the file and then ducked under the table briefly so he could see who it was and it was on his so-called “uncle’s sister.” He sighed, seeing it as nothing but a waste of time. Still, it was better than nothing, so he kept it on himself.

The CAW bird walked up to the table, seeing that evidence was missing. Upon looking underneath, Cloak Kid was no longer there.

**11:30**

Cloak Kid didn’t think the train would have a security room, but it did. CAW birds were gazing at a whole bunch of screens. Perhaps they were reviewing the footage from before the murder happened. That was smart, but it didn’t look like they were finding anything. Plus, there was barely anyone in the back.

With his footsteps quieter, he was able to sneak past them.

The boy then entered the lounge, but no one was relaxing. They were most likely patrolling for any stragglers who didn’t listen to their orders to stay in the last train car. The walls were decorated with portraits taken from different parts of the planet. He saw Mafia Town, the desert, some weird spooky-looking forest, and some mountains. The couches looked so comfortable, and the carpets so soft. Plus, he could use the furniture as stuff to hide under, or behind.

On a cart, he found yet another file. It was on the Express Owls themselves. They seemed to be a timid bunch, but who knew what they were capable of when put together.

As he left the lounge, he found another phone, and he wasn’t surprised that it was ringing at this point.

**“You don’t give up do you?”**

“If I did, I wouldn’t be here right now,” said Cloak Kid.

**“It seems the only way I can get rid of you… is to make you run out of time.”**

Cloak Kid gasped. “What do you mean?”

**“So here’s a fun time-eater: It seems that a friend of yours has gotten themself in an unusual situation. They appear to be… hanging on a thin rope… for dear life. What an odd coincidence!”**

“N-No!” Suddenly, he didn’t care if he raised his voice. “No! Don’t you dare bring Hattie into this! Cooking Cat? Who is it?”

**“What are you gonna do? Save them from becoming saw dust, or figure out who the murderer is?”**

Tears gathered in the corner of the boy's eyes. It also appeared someone had heard them, because he could hear footsteps approaching.

“How about, I’ll do both?!” And Cloak Kid hung up, and launched himself out of sight with his Rocket Cloak.

**11:40**

“Man, this is the life. Nothing beats a hot sauna.”

It was times like these were the only times that Cloak Kid wished his clothes weren’t so thick. The sauna was hot, as he expected, but he could use the fog to stay hidden. There were Express Owls in there, and he didn’t want to worry them.

“Did you hear some noise outside?” one of them said. He turned around when he saw an odd shadow, but it was gone, before he could investigate further.

“Eh, peck it! I don’t wanna bother with it.”

To his relief, when he entered the engine room, the so-called “friend” of his that was in trouble, was nothing more than a cardboard cut-out of a dog. He would have left, if it weren’t for the fact that he saw a file taped to its body. Luckily, Cloak Kid was able to find the controls. All it took was the pull of a lever to safely get the “dog” to safety.

**“Thank-you kind human for saving me. Woof woof.”** Shockingly, the cardboard thing was talking. It did have a mic attached to it, and it sounded like the voice of the strange caller. “I found this clue on the murderer. Hope it helps. Woof woof.”

Cloak Kid took the file and upon inspecting it, he saw it was on the victim himself? Why would they collect information on him? CAW was thorough, but the dead Express Owl was the murderer, wouldn’t that make it a suicide?

**11:50**

He snuck past more CAW agents, going further up the train. Then, he found a lone area. On the board were drawings and pictures, plastered on the walls. What freaked him out was the X-Ray of Hat Kid on the far wall. Somehow they knew she liked to keep things in her hat, like small items and snacks. Sometimes she forgot about them, because one time he was doing laundry and found a roach in her hat.

No! he thought. He didn’t want Hattie involved in this mess. A lone file was on a small table. It made sense about the notes on the wall. For some reason, he was now a suspect? Most of it were witness statements and photos of him in Mafia Town and sneaking around the studio a few days ago. It also made notes of his condition, but they weren’t certain of what it was.

Cloak Kid shook his head. He certainly didn’t do it, but he could see why CAW would be suspicious. They found him passed out near the body, after all, but he had no reason to murder an innocent owl.

The boy gasped. How long had he been reading through his own file? There wasn’t much time left. He had to get back before the crows saw that he was gone.

**12:00**

“So, who dun it?!” said the Conductor.

Everyone was once again gathered back at the scene of the crime. The crows had come back to share what they had… which, unfortunately wasn’t much.

“We don’t know,” said one of the crows. “We couldn’t find any conclusive evidence. We have no idea who murdered this owl.”

“What! So you’ve done peck all to solve the case?!” the Conductor yelled. “Who’s the _murderer?_ Which one of you did it?!”

Cloak Kid was in the corner reading over all of the files, while hiding behind a desk. All of them were very interesting. It wasn’t until he read over the final file, that he reached a conclusion.

The boy came into the light, and suddenly all eyes were on him.

“I think I know who the murderer is…”

“Well, if ya got something, spill it, lad!” said the Conductor.

“‘I bet they committed the murder, and are destroying all the evidence!’” Cloak Kid quoted. “That was the first thing I thought of when I was looking around.”

“So, the crows did it?”

“No,” he said sternly. “They are sworn to protect and serve at all costs.” And he threw the crows file on to the floor and it laid open. “Even if they’re all crammed into living in a single one-room apartment. Whoever did this, had eyes, everywhere.”

“The Express Owls?”

“They love the peace and quiet of card games… If they did do it, they would never blame their own, but I know they’re also quite timid. Why would they do such a thing?” And then he threw their file on the floor.

“Y-Yeah, we wouldn’t kill Robin just for chewing with his mouth open,” said one of them.

“Exactly!” Cloak Kid turned towards the dead body before him, before throwing his file aside as well. “All it said was that Robin was quite lazy. It was also his turn to clean the Owl Express today, and he’s quite lazy. Is it worth dying over it? If it was to him, it was impossible, seeing as the owl was stabbed in the back.”

“So, then, the only one left, is yer uncle’s sister!” the Conductor declared.

Cloak Kid sighed. “Conductor…” He threw the file of her into the air and hit it with his staff like it was a baseball. It hit the standee and knocked it over. “It’s a _pecking_ cardboard cut-out!”

“Wuzzah what?!” he jumped back, like he didn’t even see that. Everyone else just seemed surprised that the child just said a swear word like that.

“No. Whoever did this was pulling the strings this whole time…” the boy said, as he paced back and forth. “Someone that no one would grow suspicious of, no matter where they were, someone they would listen to, and allow to get close, and someone with the authority to cover it up afterwards!”

Subconsciously, Cloak Kid pulled on the tip of his hood, which was no longer there, as his main cloak was still missing. He turned around and pointed the finger.

“And that someone is you!”

Everyone, the Express Owls, and Crows looked in the direction that Cloak Kid was pointing.

“...ME?!” said the Conductor. “I can’t be the murderer! I’m the Conductorrrrr!”

With one hand, Cloak Kid took out the Conductor’s file and pulled out a newspaper clipping. It was an old photo of the 42nd Annual Bird Movie Awards. 

“You, Conductor, devastated at the loss of the 42nd Annual Bird Movie Award, swore never to lose again.”

“What?”

Cloak Kid pulled out a single photo from Robin’s discarded file, showing a photo of him with a Time Piece.

“Seriously, what?”

“But then you saw this. You this could dazzle the audience with this glittering thing that fell from the sky. So you took it…”

“It wasn’t me!” said the Conductor. Cloak Kid glared only grew deeper.

“Don’t peck with me!” the boy yelled, pointing his staff at him. “I’ve seen what these hourglasses do to people! You’d do anything to win the Annual Bird Movie Award, wouldn’t you?!”

“Stop.”

“Would you cry fraud just because a kid was sneaking around a studio?”

“Cut it out!”

“Would you grab a knife and stab an Express Owl just to get a hold of the hourglass?!”

The Conductor was struck silent. The boy was ready to start swinging, even his staff shook, and tears were almost ready to burst from his eyes. He was serious!

“Well, would you?!” the boy shrieked.

“ALRIGHT, FINE!” the Conductor shouted. “It was me. I did it. There, yer happy?”

Cloak Kid let out a gasp. He wasn’t sure why, since he was so certain. Even though it was midnight, he felt like a light was finally shining down on the situation.

“How’d you figure out it was me?” said the Conductor. “I tried really hard to avoid being the villain in me own movie.”

Cloak Kid lowered his hand. “M-Movie?”

“Did ya forget why yer here, lad? The Express Owl isn’t even dead, I just gave him the rubber knife and asked him to play dead for a few hours.”

The boy gasped. “R-Rubber knife?”

“Yeah, can I go now? I’m kinda sore from playing dead for so long.”

Suddenly, the “victim” in question was standing and the knife that he had was just a prop that he put on to make it look like he was stabbed.

“This rubber knife is also a bit uncomfortable.”

Cloak Kid took a step back. Everyone was breathing a sigh of relief. “B-But… the…” He felt a lump in his throat and it hurt to swallow. Everything was… fine? He didn’t even realize that tears were streaming down from his eyes until he started until everyone was staring at him.

The Conductor couldn’t believe his eyes. The kid was actually crying. He actually thought this was all real?! He walked up to him, reaching into his coat and pulling out the cloak he stole from him.

“Laddie, it’s alright,” he then said. The child looked at him once the Conductor put the cloak back on him. The boy had almost never heard the Conductor sounding this gentle towards him… or anyone for that matter. “This ain’t even blood on the floor. It’s just some greasepaint, is all.”

Cloak Kid sniffled. “I-I know… I just…”

“What? You think I’d let a murder happen on MY Owl Express? Think again! It was all just a setup for my newest Owl Express movie: Murder on the Owl Express! Not only did you reveal the murderer, you also revealed that the victim was never harmed.”

With gentle pats on his back, the boy’s tears began to subside, but he was still a bit shaky.

“Now, let’s just finish this last scene,” said the Conductor. “I’ll give yer that thingamajig you like and you can get out of here.”

Cloak Kid nodded. “Okay.” He took off his cloak momentarily and pointed at the “murderer” once again. “Now hand over the item! It belongs to it’s rightful owner!”

“I’ll get ya for this, ya peck neck! Just you wait and see!”

Cloak Kid’s rapidly beating heart was soothed as soon as he saw the Time Piece in his hand. He took it, made sure the cameras saw its glittering and shining self, before they shut off.

Cloak Kid didn’t care that it was late. He was just glad he was back on the spaceship again.

He changed back into his regular clothes. Surprisingly enough, the Conductor had been nice enough to let him keep the detective outfit. He wasn’t really sure what he would do with it, but maybe wear it if he ever had another “murder” to solve.

It had been a long day, and once the Time Piece was secured in the vault, Cloak Kid wanted nothing more than to lie down and sleep it off. But unsurprisingly, Hat Kid had stormed out from her room and was marching towards him.

“There you are! What happened today! You were supposed to be in-” Hat Kid gasped when her shipmate just, without a word, raced over and pulled her into a hug tight enough to squeeze the air out of her body. She was shocked. This was probably the first time Cloak Kid had been the one to initiate a hug with her. “Um, are you okay?”

“I’m just… glad you're okay,” Cloak Kid said in response.

“Um, sure,” she said. “Why wouldn’t I be? More importantly, you need to get your sleep. Now, come on.”

“C-Can I… sleep in your room tonight?” her shipmate asked sheepishly.

Hat Kid smiled and began to hug him back. “Of course.” After pulling away from the hug, she held him by his shoulders and guided him towards her room. Once they were there, she got him settled in a bunch of pillows on her pillow pile masterpiece and tucked into his blankets that she quickly took from his room. Cloak Kid was tired and settled down in his substitute bed with an exhausted sigh.

“So did something happen?” said Hat Kid. “Was that Conductor being mean to you?”

“No…” Cloak Kid said. “I was on the train… and he wanted me to solve a murder…”

“Wait, what?”

“The Express Owl wasn’t actually dead. It was part of the movie.”

“Oh…” Hat Kid sat down next to him, deciding to stay with him until he fell asleep. He was so glad she decided to, as he felt more at ease with her nearby right now. Sleep was already weighing heavily on him, but he wanted to know what Hat Kid did today.

“So, how was your day with DJ Grooves?”

The girl suddenly had a huge grin grow on her face. She pulled out the Time Piece she got from the DJ. “My day?”


	11. the Light of the Night

Hat Kid was staring in awe when she floated down towards the place she was supposed to shoot today. Not so surprisingly to her, because she and Cloak Kid explored space, the set was on the moon that orbited around the strange planet. The town where the Moon Penguins lived, was dazzling with lights shined down on the streets, hung from the tall buildings, and were even strung on some of the potted plants around the town.

In the town’s plaza, she saw many Moon Penguins gathered around a stage, with a giant photo of DJ Grooves as the backdrop. The DJ himself was on stage, and Hat Kid landed as if she came from the sky. The Moon Penguins were so impressed they started taking photos as she landed. The lights were so bright, she covered her eyes, but tried to wave until her little feet touched the stage. They started cheering.

“Marvelous, darling!” the DJ exclaimed. “Just marvelous! Welcome to the first day of shooting, darling. We need to transform you into the biggest movie start the bird world has ever seen! You need to become… a diva!”

“Huh?” Hat Kid hoped she wouldn’t have to sing. “Me? A star?”

“Just like I promised yesterday! That’s why I’ve called for a press conference here on our moon set. You need to get out there in front of the cameras and electrify the public, darling! Get ‘em really up and going for your movies. Once you’ve got them going crazy, come back here and we’ll show off our new prop! That’s right we’ll unveil our new movie prop to the masses!”

Hat Kid blushed at the thought. Her shipmate was certainly not going to be happy that the Time Piece was going to be on camera and now a bunch of people were going to see it. But, the penguins seemed happy and excited to see her. She waved and they only got more excited.

“Okay!” Hat Kid said. “Let’s do this!”

Cameras were gathered around the plaza’s fountain. Hat Kid wasn’t really sure how these endorsements worked, but she decided to just follow the DJ’s lead.

“All you penguins out there know my name… DJ Grooves! And I’m telling you, this young girl here is the next hot thing. Guaranteed!” Hat Kid blushed as everyone’s eyes fell onto her, and heard the murmuring of the crowd. The DJ gestured to the top of the tall fountain. There was a cardboard cutout of a dog. “Just look, as she’ll climb up this statue and rescue the poor puppy that has gotten stuck! Right, darling?”

Hat Kid’s mind put the pieces together immediately. This was all part of the plan to get her popular. Heroism usually begets popularity. After all, the Mafia tolerated her being around since she put out the lava faucets in Mafia Town. She climbed up the slipper statues of music notes and penguins on the fountain. Once she was at the top, her clothes were soaked with water, but she was really close to the dog. Using her umbrella to steady herself, she reached for the cardboard, but it slipped out from her grip and fell down on the floor. Hat Kid pulled down a gulp. The thing had shattered.

“Look at that! She helped the puppy down, safe and sound!” Grooves exclaimed. “Too bad it ran off, and definitely didn’t break into multiple pieces.”

Hat Kid smiled for the cameras, and jumped off the top and floated down safely.

“This is truly a diva I can get behind. Let it be known that this lil’ girl about animals! Make sure you join her fanclub! DJ Grooves out!”

Hat Kid continued her tour around the city. She would greet them and Moon Penguins would take her picture. Her eyes sparkled as she gazed at the lights, the townspeople would watch in awe as she jumped around the city with grace and floated down safely with her umbrella.

Hat Kid didn’t really know why there were cameras in a random dark alley, but she just kept her mouth shut and let DJ Grooves do the talking.

“Look at how street-smart this diva is. She’s standing in this sinister alleyway, right next to some potential wrongdoers.”

The only people there were two Moon Penguins and they looked over kind of confused.

“Danger is her middle name, and she’s not afraid to step outside of her comfort zone! Make sure you join her fanclub!”

Hat Kid continued her pursuit of becoming a diva, wandering around, showing off her skills. For the time being she put on her Sprint Hat and Brewing Hat to show off her skills. She used her speed to outrun other cars, only occasionally having to dart out of the way of a car that could’ve hit her otherwise, and used her brewing hat to throw concoctions and blow up piles of debris that were in the road.

As the penguins were going crazy for her, Hat Kid’s heart was swelling with joy, but there was something in the back of her head that was telling her that this was wrong. Her whole life she had been usually alone, but now she was the center of attention!

Finally, it was time for the press conference. All the Moon Penguins in town were gathered around the stage, asking questions, wondering and wanting to know about this strange alien girl that DJ Grooves proclaimed was going to be the next big thing. 

“She’s got it all, everyone! She’s got talent, she’s got street smarts, and she loves animals. She is going to be the shining light of our movies, much like this thing. Grab it, darling.”

Hat Kid gasped as the DJ tossed a Time Piece forward. The girl rushed to catch it before it fell on the ground and shattered. She jumped straight up and the hourglass sparkles from all the lights everywhere. The penguins were amazed. Their cameras were out and were quick to take photos of both her and the hourglass.

Hat Kid blushed. She had never been so loved before. In the back, however, she could make out the figure of something red. It was glaring at her. At first, she gasped, but when the onslaught of flashing cameras continued she finally remembered something vital.

Cloak Kid was going to kill her for this…

_“Hattie…”_ she remembered.

_“Yes…?”_

_“If you’re going to stay with us, then you need to promise me to maintain your discretion. You have been with us for a year now, and I am placing my trust in you.”_

_“So… I can’t have friends? What about Bow?”_

_“Oh, Hattie. It’s alright. You can still see her. What I mean, is that you are a part of our mission, now: To keep these relics out of the wrong hands. This is why my grandson and I rarely leave the tower, let alone the library. If the wrong person knew…”_

_“I… I understand. Thank-you…”_

Hat Kid gazed down at the Time Piece, safe and sound in her hands. Then she looked back at the audience cheering and applauding. The strange figure she saw was suddenly gone.

“What’s the matter, darling?” said DJ Grooves. “Don’t forget to give your fans a smile!”

The girl nodded. “Right! Sorry!” She pulled down a gulp, but her mind continued to be troubled. With him gone, she could only hope for his understanding.

_Forgive me, Tim…_

“Who was it?”

Hat Kid was still at Cloak’s side, and she held the Time Piece from today in her hands.

“The strange figure?” said Cloak Kid. “Do you think it was that Mustache Girl?”

Hat Kid didn’t want to scare him, but she couldn’t lie. “Maybe. There were too many cameras flashing.”

“We can’t be exposing the Time Piece to the masses, Hattie!” Cloak Kid said. “It’s gonna endanger everyone.”

Hat Kid nodded. “I know, but this is just until we’re done with the movies. They don’t even know what they do.” Her shipmates still shook.

“Until someone breaks one…”

Hat Kid sighed. “Let’s pray it doesn’t come to that…”

Cloak Kid just sighed. He felt so helpless with all those Time Pieces scattered on that planet. His grandfather would have blown a fuse over it.

“I’ve never had so many people happy for me…” Hat Kid then said.

“What?”

“They were all happy to see me… The Moon Penguins. I don’t really know what I did to gain their attention. I’m sure it was just DJ Grooves getting everyone worked up over me. It felt… weird.”

“Like, a good weird? Or… a bad weird?”

Hat Kid smiled. “Good. I don’t know. I was just using my hat powers, at my umbrella. I guess our abilities aren’t really a thing on this planet. So to them… it’s exciting.” The girl frowned and pulled her knees close to herself. “I know we shouldn’t draw attention to ourselves, but today made me feel… I don’t know… special. Do you ever feel that way?”

The girl turned to her shipmate, and found him fast asleep. There was a smile on his face, like he enjoyed listening to what she was saying. With a smirk, she laid down, the Time Piece secure in her arms, and fell asleep, as well.


End file.
